Nine
by protossfire
Summary: This time around, Minato's a little more prepared. He's already got the seals prepared in case the worst happens. That's right, multiple seals. As in nine of them- as in nine Jinchuuriki. As in Naruto has...a pack. Eventual NaruHina SasuSaku KibaIno
1. Prologue

**A/N **

I do not, and never will, own Naruto.

AU

I read this idea on Nobody102's profile, in his list of ideas he wasn't going to use. It sat in my brain for a couple weeks, maturing, and then I had to write it.

Of course, it will differ widely from the original idea.

**Prologue**

Hiruzen paused outside the door for a second, taking a breath before opening it.

Entering, he was reminded, as always, of how different this room had become since he had been Hokage. Minato left all the windows open, letting the cool afternoon breeze blow through the office. Hiruzen had always kept them closed, since he had left papers strewn all over his desk, and they would have all been carried away by the wind.

Minato's desk was just what you would expect from him. There was a small stack of four folders on his left hand side, piled neatly, without a glimpse of paper escaping from the sides. On his right, a folder lay open, its contents neatly secured together with a paper clip. A couple pieces of paper lay in front of him, weighed down with paper weights or the man's arm.

Everything else was either in his drawers, or stored away in a file cabinet, neatly organized by category and then alphabetized.

Minato looked up, smiling when he saw who had entered. "Ahhh, Hokage-sama!"

"Hokage-sama." Hiruzen nodded back, smiling at their old joke.

"How's retirement?" Minato asked cheekily.

"It's amazing. So relaxing, and so much free time on my hands. I love it." Hiruzen responded, lying through his teeth.

Minato sympathized with the man. From his very early twenties, till his mid-fifties, Sarutobi Hiruzen had been the Hokage of Konoha, and almost all of his time had been occupied by the demanding job. Now, Hiruzen was bored out of his mind. He simply didn't know what to do with himself anymore. He spent so much time at the Academy, Minato was considering offering him a permanent job there.

"What are you doing there?" Hiruzen asked curiously, begging for something to banish the boredom.

"Preparing for the worst." Minato said, a small, sad smile on his face.

He remembered almost everything the Third had ever taught him about being Hokage. One of his very first lessons he had received in the office had been;

"The Hokage should hope for the best, but _always _prepare for the worst."

Hiruzen grunted in recognition, walking around the desk to peer over Minato's shoulder. His eyes widened in recognition. It was a sketch, a very detailed sketch, of an extremely intricate sealing array. It was very similar, but subtly different, to Kushina's seal, which Hiruzen had seen once.

He grasped the purpose immediately.

"How long till Kushina's due?" He asked, slightly surprised.

"A month or so." Minato said. "But it's hardly a normal pregnancy. It wouldn't be surprising if little Naruto ends up premature." His voice, when he spoke his son's name, was filled with affection.

"I see." The Hokage said solemnly. "Wait. Why are there _multiple _of them?" He asked, eying the drawings underneath.

"Like I said." Minato said, smiling slightly. "Absolute _worst_ case scenario."

xxxx

_Three weeks later_

"I'll be right back." Minato said, pulling his other arm through his Hokage's coat. There was a twirl of white fabric, and he was gone.

Kushina merely groaned in acknowledgement, pressing Naruto's soft forehead against her own. They were laying on the bed, and the soft sheets contrasted with the sharp pain in her belly.

The pain of childbirth had been bad, but it hadn't done anything to prepare her for having the Kyuubi ripped out of her seal. Childbirth had been excruciating, but in a strange way it was still a...natural pain. The way her seal burned, as the Kyuubi was ripped out, reminded her more of one of Ibiki's horror stories. Like someone had taken a couple of wires and completed a circuit through her navel. The demonic chakra had always seemed acidic to Kushina, and the remnants were still burning away on her stomach.

She forced away the pain, desperate to deliver a message. She ran her hand through Naruto's tiny golden locks, smelling his skin.

"I love you, Naruto."

With that, she closed her eyes and let the darkness claim her.

xxxx

_A little later_

Minato banished all thoughts of the masked man from his mind, as he checked Kushina's pulse, feeling his panic abate as he felt the steady throb in her neck.

Minato looked down at his sleeping wife, then picked his son up from the bed. The first two Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had only received the fox after adolescence, when their bodies were more developed, and more equipped for the task. And they had been full-blooded Uzamaki, filled with vitality.

There was no way he could seal the entire Kyuubi into baby Naruto, even if he had wanted to. Luckily, he had already taken precautions.

He looked up when an ANBU alighted on the window sill, his wolf mask glinting in the moonlight. He had been the only ANBU smart enough, or stupid enough, to look for the Yellow Flash at his house during an attack.

"Gather the squads. Initiate Worst Case Scenario. You know what to do." Minato said, enunciating clearly, but quickly.

"Hai!" The man disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Minato activated Hiraishin, and felt his feet alight on cold concrete. He strode over, and placed Naruto, still wrapped in blankets, gently on a long wooden table, where a seal was inscribed in the wood.

"I'll be back, son," He promised, the word rolling strangely off his lips, "I have a fox to catch."

xxxx

"My apologies, Hiashi-sama. But the Hokage isn't really asking. One child is required from every major clan of Konoha. All the other clans have already given theirs, even the Uchiha." The ANBU said, his wolf mask to the side, over his right ear, revealing his dangerous, violet eyes.

"I don't give a damn about the Uchiha!" Hiashi sputtered. "The Uchiha can barely produce one talented Shinobi every generation! All their tactics rely on making eye contact. Against the Hyuuga, they're nothing! Every Hyuuga, without exception, either has been, or is currently, an excellent shinobi of the Leaf!" He straightened up. "The Hyuuga are the most respected Clan in Konoha. We are above such undignified practices as the one you propose." He concluded haughtily, his back perfectly straight.

The ANBU's face had remained slightly bored for most of Hiashi's speech, bearing the rant with remarkable patience for one so pressed for time. But at the last bit, his eyes flashed dangerously, his mouth dropping into a fierce scowl.

"ENOUGH!" he roared. "The Hokage is using his own son, as well, for this operation! How dare you insinuate that the Hyuuga are above him!" He stood up slightly, trying to get his emotions under control. "I'm taking your daughter, Hiashi-sama." He said, his voice deep and steady. "Unfortunately, we're rather pressed for time. We can either do this the easy way, " he slinked back slightly, ready to leap into action at any second. "Or we can do this the hard way." He finished, his voice perfectly neutral, his gaze steady, his stance confident.

Hiashi stared wearily into the eyes of the ANBU in front of him.

He wondered, not for the first time, what kind of man could inspire such fierce loyalty in his subordinates.

"Very well. Take her. " He said in resignation, waving his hand at the crib in the corner. He turned and departed, ignoring the ANBU that vanished behind him.

He tried to bury the fear rising in him, but he could feel it spreading, cold, from his stomach, up to where it lodged firmly in his throat. Unbidden, tears rose to his eyes as he contemplated the fate of his daughter. Now he just had to figure out how to break the news to her mother.

xxxx

The ANBU arrived at the concrete slab, staring. A giant clearing had been made in the forest of Konoha, and concrete had been poured down in a fitting, forming a perfectly smooth floor. A giant circular seal, easily as wide as a house, was scribed in the center, in charcoal. In the middle, the Kyuubi itself was glued to the floor, wrapped in long, thick chains from head to tail...tails.

It's chakra saturated the air, resulting in a heavy, sticky, atmosphere that was thick enough to gag on. The Kyuubi itself was growling lowly, snarling at the young Hokage, revealing canine's taller than Wolf.

The Hokage was standing in front of a long wooden table, where eight babies lay, perfectly silent. It was as if the babies could sense how close they were to oblivion.

As Wolf watched, a smaller, green circle glowed to life inside the biggest one trapping the Kyuubi, and began to spin. The Kyuubi growled, emitting an unbelievable amount of killing intent. The ANBU walked over to the table, his knees shaking, and placed the young Hyuuga girl inside the last circle.

Then he joined his subordinates around the edge of the large seal, adding his own chakra to the circle suppressing the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi began to shrink, it's chakra sucked into the spinning ring. This process continued for several seconds, and in that time the Kyuubi shrunk to half its original size. Then the ring stopped spinning, and the chakra stopped flowing. The magic circle seemingly picked itself up off the floor of its own accord, and floated across towards the Fourth Hokage.

At the same time, Minato was touching the seal beneath Naruto, lifting it off the wood. He stood there, and both seals diminished in size to connect the outer edges to each of his fingertips. From there, he placed the Kyuubi's ring on young Naruto's belly, and then placed the ring from the table on top. With a twist of his right hand, he locked both rings into place, even as the young boy's cries of pain entered the air.

With a sigh, Minato lowered his hands. Then he turned to face the Kyuubi, and took a deep breath. Then he repeated the process with the next child, the Uchiha boy. This time, the Kyuubi shrank down to one third of its original size.

Then he repeated the process with each of the babies, splitting the remaining third of the Kyuubi into 7 parts.

When he finished, Minato was sweating, and panting heavily. Where the Kyuubi had once dwarfed the clearing, nothing was left except scorched concrete.

The ANBU stepped forward, gathering around the young Hokage, who was starting to regain his breath.

"Excellent work." He said, straightening up. "I made a slight miscalculation, and ended up putting more chakra into the last one, the Hyuuga girl, than I originally meant to." He paused to take a large breath. "But it should be okay. After Naruto and young Sasuke, she's probably the most suited for handling the Kyuubi's chakra."

The ANBU didn't really understand his logic there, but they said nothing, waiting for orders. Minato's head suddenly jerked up into the trees, in alarm. The ANBU looked too, but couldn't see anything.

"Wolf, stay here for a moment. The rest of you, take a child, and return them to their families. Inform them that the mission was a success, and that the seals are _more _than secure." The fourth put particular emphasis on the last part. "Then report to the Third, inform him of the situation, and wait for orders." The nine ANBU did as instructed, and vanished.

Wolf waited patiently.

"I summoned the Sannin, on the off chance that something like this would happen." Minato informed the last ANBU. "I have a feeling my wife will need more than a normal medic-nin. As soon as Tsunade arrives, bring her to my wife immediately. Inform both her and Jiraiya of everything that happened, assuming the Third doesn't beat you to it. I want Jiraiya to double check my seals, then Kushina if..." he paused, "_when_ she awakens."

Wolf nodded, his eyes never leaving his leader's face.

"And...tell my family I love them, in case I don't return." He said, his voice grave.

"Hokage-sama?" Wolf asked in alarm, just as a man in dark robes with an orange mask jumped down into the clearing. The ANBU couldn't even sense his chakra.

"Go." Minato said, turning to face the masked man. "I have great respect for your skills, Wolf, but this fight is far beyond your capabilities. You'd only be in the way."

Wolf, for the first time, felt true fear for the young Hokage. This must be the man who killed his ANBU earlier. He had sworn to protect the Hokage with his life, but Wolf had a feeling that the Hokage was right. He'd only be in the way, and he had orders.

"Hai." He said, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Minato breathed a sigh of relief. It sort of defeated the purpose to gain affection for your bodyguards, but he could hardly be a genius about everything.

"So." The man behind the mask said, his voice deep. "You sealed the Kyuubi away already." There was an unspoken question there.

"Yes." Minato said, feeling unusually talkative. If he had his way, the masked man wouldn't leave this place alive. "Into nine different babies, actually. Have fun trying to track them down." He grinned.

The masked man scowled slightly behind his mask. "That's annoying. Babies, you say? Nine of them? How fitting."

Minato inclined his head slightly.

"This way, their chakras will mix better, and they'll have superior control over the Kyuubi's chakra, in comparison to older Jinchuuriki. How ingenious." The masked man continued.

"Why thank you." Minato said, sarcastically.

"Of course, none of them will live long enough to realize their potential." The masked man continued, sounding almost regretful.

"And why's that?" Minato asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Because, after I kill you, I'll collect them, put the pieces back together, and flatten Konoha like I was going to earlier. Preferably before the Sun rises." He continued, his voice completely sure.

"That's not going to happen." Minato replied.

"And why's that?"

"Because I'm going to kill you right here, right now. If you really are Madara, you should've been killed a long time ago. I'll correct that mistake." Minato answered, his voice deadly.

The man grinned behind his mask. "You shouldn't underestimate me."

Minato swept his hand out from behind his cloak, sending his kunai flying around the clearing.

Tobi swayed to the side, letting one of the kunai fly past him. Then he sprang at Minato, his arm extended in exactly the same way as earlier.

Minato jumped forward too, and threw a kunai forward, which passed through the mask, in an exact mirror of their clash earlier. Just as Tobi's hand reached him, he used Hiraishin to get to the Kunai, and spun a rasengan into the back of the masked man.

He popped, releasing a small cloud of smoke. Minato looked up to see Tobi falling out of the sky, his hand once again reaching towards Minato.

Tobi plunged downwards, his hand an inch from Minato's face, only to have the Hokage disappear at the last second, and Tobi just barely managed to twist his body back up before he broke his hand on the concrete.

Minato flashed down from the tree, back to the kunai he just left, stabbing his kunai in Tobi's chest.

Tobi watched from his tree as his clone exploded into smoke, and sent a trio of kunai at the young Hokage, grunting in satisfaction as they sunk into the man's chest.

His eyebrows rose as the Hokage exploded into smoke. There was a rush of wind behind him, and before he could react, he had a kunai protruding from his chest.

Tobi turned around to smile at the young Hokage.

Minato noticed a new design in the man's red eye, right before he exploded into a flock of crows that crowded his vision.

Quickly, Minato flashed down to the ground, before Tobi could take advantage of his obscured vision.

Tobi watched from high above, from a branch that he had never actually left. Minato's eyes rose from the ground, unerringly meeting Tobi's.

He slowly took off his coat, tossing it to the side, watching as Tobi descended to land on the opposite side of the clearing.

"We can start for real now." He informed the masked man.

That was the Hokage's idea of a warm-up? The masked man felt a smile grow on his face. Perhaps Konoha hadn't fallen as far as he thought.

xxxx

Where once there had been a small clearing, now the forest was flattened for miles. Fires, usually made of black flames, covered the landscape.

The masked man clutched his burned arm, grimacing in pain. His space/time jutsu took too much chakra to maintain for any length of time, and he had been caught unawares by an explosive tag. His robe was split open around his middle, revealing a shallow slash across his abdomen, which was slowly dripping blood. His mask had been glanced by a rasengan, splitting it in half, revealing his other sharingan. A tiny piece of his mask had cut through his left cheek, resulting in a stream of blood down his face, flowing under the bottom part of the mask still covering his mouth.

He was very unhappy. Not only had his mask been broken, but he had also been required to use much more chakra than he had planned on.

Minato stood opposite him, breathing heavily. He had almost been caught by the man's vortex, and had narrowly escaped for a second time using Hiraishin. After that, the masked man had brought out his long chain, with which he integrated multiple fighting styles, such that his attacks were impossible to predict.

Minato clutched his rib cage, where Tobi had broken several ribs with the heavy chain. He was left in a long sleeved blue shirt, his flak jacket quickly flung to the side after Tobi had glanced it with an Amaterasu, slowly incinerating the material.

Minato was getting frustrated. While it was true that he was slowly wearing down the masked man, who was probably more injured, he was running out of time and chakra. Any minute now, ninja from the village would show up, and get in the way. Or he would run out of chakra, and be killed.

Tobi, for his part, was just as frustrated. He had used up way too much chakra, and was running out of ideas for dealing with the annoyingly fast shinobi. He couldn't seem to catch the Yellow Flash with Amaterasu, much less anything slower. Any minute now, ANBU would probably begin to arrive, and his opportunity to finish the Yellow Flash once and for all would be gone.

Tobi contemplated a Namikaze Minato in his mid-thirties, resisting his Moon's eye plan. That just would not do. He had to finish off the young Hokage, tonight.

At least the Hokage had seemingly run out of surprises as well. The giant toad had almost crushed the masked man, but he had managed to turn himself insubstantial just in time. Then the frog had been dismissed quickly, not fast enough to be of any more use in a battle of speed.

Minato took a deep breath. It was time. He could not afford to let this man escape alive; next time he would return, prepared, and he would destroy Konoha. Besides, the man was threatening his son, and he couldn't have that.

"I suppose I'll show you my final ace." He said, voice carrying to the masked man. "Pay attention, I can guarantee you've never seen this before."

The masked man took the bait, hook, line and sinker. He straightened up, focusing his sharingan on the Hokage's hands, memorizing the handseals, and waited.

The Hokage finished the handseals, and straightened up, a shocked expression on his face.

Tobi waited for a second, then laughed. "That's quite the impressive technique you've got there. Was it supposed to actually do something?" He asked snidely.

It felt like a bucket of ice-water had been thrown at his chest. Except instead of splashing against him, it had passed all the way through, freezing his insides.

At the same time, the world seemed to fade. The hissing of the burning forest, the cracks as trees collapsed; it all faded. The wind on his face, the sweat on his arms and around his mask, all feeling faded too. Then the world took on a grayish tint, all color fading except for the colors on the Hokage in front of him, and the glowing entity behind him.

The thing was as tall as the Kyuubi, vaguely man-shaped, and swirling with power. Currents under the surface of its translucent skin colored it in many shades of green, purple, and gray. It had gray dreadlocks, and two eyes that were completely yellow.

It's presence was massive, even larger than the Kyuubi's. It was an entity so old, so ancient, that it made the Kyuubi look like a little kit sucking at its mother's breast. It's very presence commanded absolute obedience, it's stern, yet gleeful, visage relishing his terror.

It could only be one thing; the Shinigami, the death god. And it was focused on him.

At the same time, Tobi realized that it had one long, light blue arm extended. It traveled through the Fourth's chest, burying itself in his own.

"You know who this is, right?" Minato called. When Tobi didn't answer, gritting his teeth, Minato continued. "The Shinigami can only be seen by those already within his grasp. The fact that you can see him means you're already crossing the threshold between life and death."

The Fourth gave a tug, and Tobi almost collapsed. He could _feel _his soul being ripped from his body; the Shinigami claiming him.

Minato grunted, and gave another tug, ripping Tobi's soul completely from his body. His last sight of the man had him falling forward, panic on his face, one sharingan spinning uselessly in one, last, desperate attempt for a jutsu.

Then the man face-planted in the dirt, where he belonged.

Minato breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the Shinigami withdraw his arm from him for the time being. He had one last thing to do, and not even the Shinigami could keep him from doing it, even if it had wanted to.

Using Hiraishin for the last time, he alighted on his home carpet, stumbling to the bed where his wife and son were sleeping.

He coughed, hacking up blood, which he wiped across the back of his hand.

He bent over the bed, staring at his child. It could have been a mirror to the past, an almost exact copy of himself as a baby, except for one thing; the whisker marks on both cheeks.

"I love you, son." He said, cherishing the words. Then he formed his last seal. He would leave the rest of his chakra inside his newborn son, watching over the Kyuubi till the day Naruto could control it for himself.

He pressed the seal to Naruto's stomach, feeling the chakra flow out his body, down through his hands, and into the small child.

The world darkened, and he fell over backwards, dead before he hit the floor.

And so ended the time of the Yellow Flash, savior of Konoha, and the Fourth Hokage.

xxxx

Meanwhile, little Naruto dreamed.

He was once again being forced out into the light, into life, this time with the accompanying roar of the Kyuubi.

He was terrified, or as terrified as a one-day-old child could be.

Suddenly the dream vanished, replaced by a warm presence, a soft yellow light, and the feeling of security, of being safe, washed over the newborn.

"Shhhh, Naruto. It's okay, I'm here. You're safe now." The warm, familiar voice washed over him.

The child did not yet know what the words meant, but on a deeper level he understood the reassuring tone behind them.

And so his dreams vanished, and he slipped into a deeper, peaceful sleep.

xxxx

The man stumbled onto the table, almost missing it. His left eye was now completely blind, and Tobi would have to procure a new one.

To think that the little yellow brat had forced him to use Izanagi. Tobi snorted. He had been old before the Fourth had even been born.

"Zetsu..." He coughed out.

The two-sided man rose out of the floor, and wordlessly began administering aid.

Having subordinates was useful, after all. It was definitely time to acquire some more. And resources...and plans. He had been delayed, for sure. Never had he expected to meet such resistance in Konoha. For now he needed to rest, recover, and secure another Sharingan.

Then, perhaps, he would finally start recruiting.

xxxx

A/N

Tell me what you think! The night of the Kyuubi's attack and Minato's fight with Tobi is one of my favorite parts of the series, and it was even more fun to write.

I'm going to try to start writing more, we'll see how that goes. Although I might also be really busy the next couple of weekends...so we'll see.

~protossfire


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

You know that thing...umm what's it called...

Chapter 1?

Yeah, no. Screw that thing. We're skippin straight from the prologue to chapter 2!

Enjoy! :D

**Chapter 2**

_Naruto, three years old_

Kushina frowned, watching from the porch. "Don't you think it's a little early to be teaching him tree-climbing? He's only three years old. Not so long ago, he was just taking his first steps, and now you're teaching him chakra control?" She brushed some of her hair over her ear in a nervous gesture, as Naruto ran up the tree using only his feet and his chakra.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. That was a bit of an exaggeration, but he let it pass. "I was learning the same thing at his age."

"And look how well your childhood went. Oh wait, you didn't have one." Kushina said sarcastically, watching her son run at the tree again.

A second later, she seemed to realize what she said. She clapped a hand to her mouth, and turned to him."I'm sorry, I can't believe I said that."

Kakashi didn't take offense; he knew she was just worried for her son. "No you're right, I didn't have a childhood. But don't worry, I'm not going to try to get you to enter Naruto into the academy early or anything like that."

"Good. Because I wouldn't anyway." Kushina said, abruptly turning to watch Naruto again. The action caused her dark red ponytail to swing close to Kakashi.

It was funny, really, that after all this time, he still couldn't get used to the new hair color. Before the Kyuubi had been extracted, Kushina had possessed bright red hair the color of a ripe tomato.

The Kyuubi's chakra had melded with hers to the point where it's extraction was severely damaging to her chakra system. Somehow, with the Uzamaki clan's incredible vitality, she had managed to survive it's extraction. But now her vibrant red hair had been transformed into a dark crimson color, the only evidence of the damage caused, and the probable hit to her longevity.

She had cut it, after Minato's death, so now it only hung halfway down her back when she wore her hair down. But most of the time she kept it in a business-like ponytail, and combined with her sterner expressions, she looked a lot fiercer than she used to.

Naruto made it almost a third of the way up the tree this time, and Kushina had to forcibly restrain herself from dashing forward when his foot slipped. But, as usual, Naruto grabbed a tree limb, and hopped to the ground, unharmed.

"He's made that much progress already?" She asked, looking at the indentations in the bark. He'd only been attempting to climb the tree for a few hours.

"Little kids are like sponges. They soak up everything you throw at them, then come back for more." Kakashi said, amused.

Kushina frowned, but didn't say anything.

"I'm thinking about starting him on footwork and stances soon." Kakashi said off-handedly.

"You're planning on starting him on _taijutsu_?" Kushina asked, whirling on him.

"Just footwork." Kakashi assured her, not even looking at her.

xxxx

_One year later_

Fuguku frowned heavily as Sasuke ran past the table, laughing. He had just got home from work, and he had a massive headache. The police force was swamped with requests this week, and to top it off, Fuguku had just lost one of his most important subordinates on some stupid mission for the Hokage.

"Itachi." He spit. "Take your _brother_ out." His tone, as always when he talked of Sasuke, was bitter.

"Where?" Itachi was serious, wearing an expression too old for his eight years of life.

"I don't care. Just get him out of here."

Itachi stood, "Yes, father." He exited into the hallway, to go find Sasuke, wherever he had run off too.

Fuguku looked up to meet the eyes of his wife. Mikoto frowned, but as always, said nothing.

xxxx

Sasuke dodged to the side as some old, grizzled Uchiha spit in his path, then walked away, muttering.

Itachi's hand tightened on Sasuke's shoulder, but he said nothing.

"Nii-san?" Itachi looked down to see Sasuke looking up at him, slightly hurt. "Why do all the other Uchiha hate me?"

"Because they are fools." Itachi said.

"What do you mean?"

Itachi flexed his jaw, but said nothing more.

"Nii-san?" Sasuke asked again.

"Keep up." Itachi told him, increasing his pace. "If we make it to the training ground before the sun sets, I'll teach you how to throw a kunai."

Sasuke sped up quickly, a huge smile on his face, the incident completely forgotten.

xxxx

The bell on the door rang, announcing a customer.

The man smiled at Kushina from behind the counter. "How may I help you today?"

"I'd like to buy some new kunai for my son, he'll be learning how to use them soon." She said, smiling down fondly.

"An academy student, huh?" The man leaned forward, peering over the counter, catching sight of the blonde child she had with her.

"Wow. He's young." The man said, still smiling. Naruto looked up tentatively, and the smith froze at the sight of the whisker marks.

A flash of anger appeared on his face before the man completely hid his expression, and Kushina stiffened. "I've got just the thing." He said, disappearing into the back.

A moment later, he came out, a decrepit weapon's pouch in his hand. It had a hole in one corner, and he set it down on the counter.

Kushina opened the flap, and paused, her face stony. She began to take kunai out of the pouch, slowly examining each one, before dropping it on the counter with a _clang. _

_Clang...clang...clang...clang._

The man was starting to look a little nervous.

"I'm curious." Kushina said, with an edge to her voice. Naruto hid behind her, recognizing that tone as the one that preceded his mother getting scary. "Did you think I wouldn't recognize shoddy workmanship when I saw it?"

The man swallowed. "Even the best smith in town makes mistakes."

"And you thought you'd sell me mistakes?" Kushina asked.

"I won't sell a perfectly good set of kunai to _that._" The man said, pointed at Naruto.

"Then it's a good thing you're selling them to _me." _Kushina said, her voice deadly.

The man swallowed again. "I'm sorry Ma'am, I have a very strict policy when it comes to..._them._"

"One you just made up." Kushina snarled. Abruptly, she looked down, smiling at Naruto. "Honey, why don't you go wait outside the door for a minute."

Naruto nodded quickly, and practically sprinted out the door.

As soon as the door shut, Kushina whirled back to face the unfortunate smith. "That child is my _son. _He's a human being, and I promise you that his seal, _it_'s cage, is perfect. I would know."

"You see," She said, glaring at him. "You're worried about the wrong demon. The demon you should be worrying about," She paused, expression fierce, "is _me_."

Two chains shot out of her hands, impaling themselves on the wall on either side of the smith, resulting in two rather large holes in the sheetrock. A third shot out of her stomach, crashing into the wall just below the man's crotch. She withdrew them slowly, satisfied by the terrified look on the smith's face.

"Now, why don't you go get a new set of kunai for me to look at? I sincerely hope, for your sake, that they're perfect."

xxxx

Kushina exited the shop, putting on a smile for Naruto, who took her hand. "I don't think he'll give us trouble again." She told him.

"Okay." He said, looking back down to his feet.

It broke her heart, how he always looked at his feet, ashamed of himself, afraid of the scorn of the villagers.

She tapped under his chin. "Stop that. Stand tall, be proud, show the villagers that you're not afraid of them, that you're proud of who you are."

Naruto looked up quickly, "How can I do that if I don't even know who I am? You won't even tell me who my father was." Naruto asked, suddenly angry.

For a second, Kushina was impressed that neither Jiraiya nor Kakashi had ever slipped up and told him. Impressed, and also slightly disappointed.

Suddenly, she was angry. Angry that she should have to hide her son's parentage from him. Angry that he was ashamed, instead of proud. Angry that she had to deny knowledge of the man she'd loved almost all her life. "You know what? Fuck the Third." She said furiously.

Naruto stared at her; his mother never, ever, swore. He had of course, heard the villagers curse at him, but never had his mother said anything like that, especially about the Hokage.

"Hold this." She told him, handing him the weapon's pouch that housed the kunai. He clutched the pouch, staring mutely at her as she picked him up bridal style.

She leapt from roof to roof, venting her anger by racing across the rooftops as fast as she could.

Naruto's shock wore off, and he started to smile. Then he was laughing, exhilarated as the wind rushed past.

Kushina felt her anger fade, and before long she was smiling too. When Naruto looked down in shame, it broke her heart. When he laughed, he put her heart back together. When he smiled, he lit up the whole village.

xxxx

"Yes!" Sasuke cried out, as the kunai struck the bull's eye.

Itachi allowed himself a small smile at his younger brother's excitement. "Good job. When you can do that five times in a row, move back 5 steps, and do it again."

Sasuke nodded enthusiastically, and kunai resumed striking the target.

There was something strangely exhilarating about watching a 4 year old throw knives. Even if they were blunted. Itachi smirked, then brought out his own kunai. He might as well use this time to practice, as well.

For a warm up, he sent 10 kunai at 10 different targets around the clearing. Each one thudded into a bull's eye within the space of a few seconds.

He pulled on their strings, which he had kept in his left hand, bringing the kunai back to him. He looked up, and saw Sasuke staring at him, hand poised in the air to remove his own kunai from his target.

"That's amazing!" Sasuke said in awe.

Itachi smirked. "You know how I got this good?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Practice. Lots, and lots, and lots of practice." Itachi turned back to his targets, and Sasuke resumed collecting his kunai.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Itachi said, without turning around.

"Yeah?"

Itachi turned. "If you want, I'll wake you up tommorow morning, and you can come train with me."

"Yes, please!" Sasuke beamed.

Itachi turned back around, then smiled- actually smiled. While it was true that he might not be able to focus properly...having Sasuke along would definitely make things more...interesting.

xxxx

"Do you know who's head we're sitting on?" Kushina asked Naruto, her feet dangling over the side.

"The Yondaime's!" Naruto answered. "He was Jiraiya's student- he talks about him all the time."

"Yeah?" Kushina smiled. "What else did Jiraiya tell you about him?"

Naruto scrunched up his face. "I don't know, that he was super awesome and nice and kind. That sort of thing. And that I should want to be just like him."

Kushina smiled. "He was all of those things...but maybe you don't have to be _just _like him. " She said fondly.

"You knew him?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Did I know him?" Kushina laughed. "I would certainly hope so. He was your father, silly. And my husband."

Naruto stared at her. "Huh?"

Kushina smiled. "Hop on my back. I'll prove it to you."

xxxx

She unsealed the lock, and opened the chest drawer. It hadn't been opened in four years, and everything inside was covered in a slight layer of dust.

Kushina sorted through the mess, looking for a specific picture. Finally, she found it near the bottom, and wiped the dust off the front with her sleeve. Then, she handed it down to her son.

Naruto clutched it reverently, staring at it. The picture showed Minato and Kushina in their mid-twenties, with Minato and Kushina holding onto her very pregnant belly. They were both smiling and laughing, appearing to be the happiest couple on the planet.

"I wanted to tell you so bad." She told him. "But your father and I had already decided to raise you under the name Uzumaki, and that we would keep you out of the spotlight as much as possible. Same as me. You see, your father made a lot of enemies in the Third Shinobi War."

"After Minato died, the Third made a couple of laws preventing the discussion of certain topics." Kushina continued. "He made the few of us who knew your parentage promise to keep it a secret, to protect you. Actually, he ordered us not to tell you, or anyone else. Because he doesn't believe that you can keep it a secret, that you'll tell someone at school in a fit of rage, or something similar."

Naruto's blue eyes never left hers. "But I believe you have a right to know. And I think you can keep a secret. I've always told you; a shinobi who can't keep a secret isn't a shinobi for very long."

Naruto nodded solemnly. Then smiled. "I can tell Kakashi-sensei and Jiraiya-sensei though, right?"

"They already know." Kushina laughed. "They were two of the few who knew about your father and I." Naruto straightened up at the words 'your father', and it made Kushina smile even larger. "Kakashi was Minato's student, and Minato was Jiraiya's student, so of course they knew about you."

Naruto nodded, then went back to looking at the picture.

He looked back up at her. "Tell me about him." He pleaded.

Kushina smiled. "Well...let's see..." She said, looking up at the ceiling.

xxxx

_A week later._

Kushina knocked lightly, aware of Naruto's presence close behind her. Even though it had only been a week since she told him, she could already tell the difference in his attitude. He rarely looked at the floor anymore, and he kept his back straighter than he used to. He smiled more easily in public, and had even laughed in the street the other day.

Kushina didn't regret breaking the S-class secret. Not even a little.

But now, he was regressing a little, hiding behind her in the Uchiha district. Not that Kushina could blame him, really. It was an imposing place. The walls were high, giving you a sense of isolation the moment you stepped into the district. Then there were all those serious-looking, black-haired police-force members; it was enough to intimidate anyone.

The sun was setting now, but Kushina was hoping that Fuguku still wasn't home yet. Even though her relationship with Mikoto had crumbled after Minato's death and the Kyuubi's imprisonment in their sons, Kushina still thought Mikoto would give her far less trouble than Fuguku.

No such luck. The door opened to reveal the scowling face of the leader of the Uchiha Clan himself.

"Kushina." The man said evenly. "How may I help you?"

"Can I come in?" Kushina asked.

Fuguku stared at her for a second. "I suppose." He said finally, opening the door wider.

They moved just inside the door, and Kushina closed the door behind her.

"What do you want?" Fuguku asked again.

"It's been four years. I came to do a checkup on the seal. Make sure everything's working perfectly." Kushina replied easily.

The man scowled. "The seal is perfect. You said so yourself, four years ago."

"Well.." Kushina was cut off as a young boy came flying into the room, skidding to a halt when he saw the villagers.

"Sasuke-kun! You've grown so big!" Kushina gushed, kneeling down to Sasuke's level.

Sasuke gave his father a bewildered look.

"Uzumaki-san was one of the doctors who looked after you when you were born." The Uchiha explained, a little brusquely.

Sasuke's face cleared a little, but he made no move to get any closer.

"I'm here for a small check-up." Kushina explained. "It won't take but a minute or two." She said warmly.

"And I already told you, he doesn't need it." Fuguku said, slightly angry now.

Naruto peeked his head around Kushina curiously, and met Sasuke's eyes for a moment.

Sasuke started a little, but not nearly as bad as Fuguku. The man hissed, recoiling slightly.

"You brought _him _here? Into my district?" Fuguku asked angrily. "Are you threatening me, Kushina?"

One moment Kushina was kneeling, the next she was standing again, so quickly Naruto didn't even see her move. "If I wanted to threaten you, Fuguku, I would _hardly _need my _four year-old son _to do it." She said furiously.

Fuguku stared at her for a moment. "Get. Out." He said, in a tone that broke no argument.

Kushina hissed in frustration, then turned around and left without another word, ushering Naruto in front of her.

xxxx

A lone ninja landed in the clearing, scaring a few birds into flight. The ninja was dressed in traditional ANBU gear, a ninjato strapped on his back. His silvery hair stood on end, windblown to one side. His sleeveless shirt and jacket showed off well-muscled arms, lightly tanned. His mask was that of a dog, and it only had one eye.

Kakashi removed the mask as he sat down in front of the stone, the orange sunset at his back, casting his shadow on the bottom of the stone.

"You know." He said conversationally to the rock, "they always told me my porn would get me killed one day. That I'd be walking along, giggling, reading, and be dead before my eyes left the book. No one ever predicted that I'd get addicted to a drug."

He sighed, looking up at the clear sky. "But I am. I'm addicted to a very dangerous drug. One that I can't help but want more of, even though the more I'm around it, the more it kills me. And that drug is a four-year-old boy with blonde hair and blue eyes."

"He reminds me so much of you Sensei, every time I look at him. And every time he smiles that wide grin, or tells me that he doesn't know how to give up, it reminds me of you, Obito. It's murder on my heart, every time."

He lowered his back gently into the grass, staring up at the sky, lost in other memories involving blonde hair and blue eyes. Before he knew it, the stars had come out, and were twinkling down at him.

"There are only two things that make it bearable." He finally continued. "One is that I know you wouldn't want me to leave Naruto to grow up with only Kushina and occasional visits from Jiraiya-sama. The second is Kushina. If she wasn't there, with her crimson hair, anchoring me in the present, I feel like I'd just get lost in the past and never wake up."

He stood up, brushing grass off his pants. "Or maybe the stress from all these ANBU missions is finally getting to me, and I'm just going crazy."

The stone, as always, offered no response.

xxxx

Sasuke found it hard to sleep that night, rolling over and over in his bed.

The image of the kid from earlier was burned into his mind. The bleached blonde hair, tan skin, whisker marks, and sharp blue eyes.

Sasuke was sure he had never seen him before.

So why did he seem so familiar?

A/N

Balancing stories is kind of fun. I think I like writing multiple at once, it helps when I get bored with one, I can write the next one the next night, and then switch back.

Whadja think?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

I've never really understood how people can have so much to say in these Author's notes.

Enjoy! :D

**Chapter 3**

_Six Months Later; _

_Naruto: Four and a half years old_

"So...you think he's ready?" Jiraiya asked, his arms folded across his chest.

"I do." Kushina said calmly.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, merely watching the fight in front of them. Naruto was attacking Kakashi, using kunai, taijutsu, anything, to try and get a hit on the masked man. So far, every day Kakashi had showed up at their house, the masked man would make Naruto spar with him. Naruto had yet to even _glance _Kakashi.

Sometimes, when Kakashi felt Naruto needed extra motivation, he would pull out his book and read during the spar. It was cruel, but Jiraiya could easily see how much better Naruto had gotten since he was last here, four months ago.

In weapon mechanics and taijutsu, the boy was already genin-level. He was just like his Dad, a true genius. Even if he was a little hyperactive.

Kakashi called a halt, and after the masked man had departed for a mission, Jiraiya called Naruto into the living room.

He sat in a chair, as did Kushina, and Naruto sat across from them on the couch.

"Listen, Naruto. There's a couple things I need to tell you." Jiraiya said seriously.

"If it's about the Kyuubi and the seals, he already knows." Kushina interrupted. "I told him last weekend."

"Oh." Jiraiya looked surprised for a second. "Well, good. That's one less S-class secret I have to worry about breaking."

Naruto grinned. "I heard there's eight others, just like me! I hope I get some of them in my academy class..." He said, suddenly pouting.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jiraiya held up his hands, laughing. "That's a year away!"

"That doesn't mean I can't think about it." Naruto countered.

Jiraiya grinned, and let it pass. "Well, anyway, now that you know what you're holding, I should also tell you that the Kyuubi is very powerful. _You _by definition, hold a lot of power. Which means that people will come after you as you get older, and it's important that you have as many weapons at your disposal as possible, in order to protect yourself. Therefore, we'll be trying to teach you how to tap into the Kyuubi's power."

"You really think people will come after me?" Naruto asked curiously.

Jiraiya and Kushina glanced at each other. "Yes." Jiraiya responded simply.

"The Bijuu, or tailed beasts, have always been a subject of interest for the ninja villages." Kushina said.

"And, recently," Jiraiya continued, "a slightly larger than usual amount of people are digging for information on them. Not many more, mind you, but enough to set off alarms. Somebody out there is preparing for something, which means we need to prepare too."

Naruto nodded.

"Which is why, starting tommorow, we'll be taking a trip to our ancestral home." Kushina said. "The Whirlpool village...or what's left of it anyway. The very first Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi was an Uzumaki as well. The first Hokage's wife, in fact. She sealed the Kyuubi into herself after the Battle at the Valley of the End, then retreated to Whirlpool in order to fully control it."

"Deep under the village itself," Kushina continued, "lies the chamber she used. It's probably the best place to teach you to tap into the Kyuubi's power."

"Cool!" Naruto said, grinning.

Kushina grinned too. "Pack your things. We're going to see the Hokage first thing tommorow, and then we're leaving."

Naruto gave a whoop of excitement and rushed out of the room, leaving the two adults chuckling behind him.

"He's not going to sleep at all tonight." Kushina laughed.

xxxx

Sarutobi observed them calmly over the tips of his glasses. "So you wanna see the Whirlpool village, huh Naruto?"

"Yeah! Mom says that's where the Uzumaki originally came from!" Naruto said excitedly, standing from his chair in his excitement. Afterwards, without even seeming to notice that he had stood up, he climbed back into his chair, sitting on his leg. It was, all and all, a very amusing performance, but Sarutobi refrained from laughing at the hyperactive boy.

"Indeed." Sarutobi had, of course, been informed of the real reason for the visit. But for official purposes, it would be recorded as a vacation of sort. "Well, I hope you're not too disappointed. The place is mostly in shambles now. The Uzumaki were always known as masters of the mysterious art of Sealing. That made them dangerous, and the Whirlpool village was surrounded and destroyed before we could send aid during the last Shinobi world war."

"Shambles or not, though, it is part of your heritage. And it's always good to explore your roots." Sarutobi said, smiling. "I wish you luck on your journey."

Kushina, Jiraiya and Naruto stood, bowed, and left.

Kakashi met them at the village gates.

"You're coming too, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, as Kakashi jumped down next to them.

"I've never seen Whirlpool before." Kakashi said evenly, as if that were a good enough reason for one of the Hokage's best ANBU to take a few weeks off.

"Me either!" Naruto exclaimed unnecessarily, skipping ahead.

Kakashi just smiled, and pulled out his orange book. It would, after all, be a week-long walk to the coast, and then they had to go to Whirlpool itself.

xxxx

"Your guard is too low." Itachi said, in his monotone voice, flicking Sasuke in the forehead.

He leaned backwards, dodging a swing from his little brother. "Your stance is too wide." He flicked Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke got impatient, and swung out a long kick meant to trip his older brother. Itachi merely blocked it, then kicked Sasuke's feet out from under him in turn.

"Never do that again. Get impatient and overextend, and you're dead."

Sasuke got to his feet, breathing heavily. "This is hopeless. I'll never be able to beat you."

Itachi allowed himself a smirk. "I'm not training you so you can beat me. I'm training you so you can protect yourself."

"I want to be able to beat you, though." Sasuke said stubbornly. "Besides, I don't need to be able to protect myself. No one would dare mess with me when _you're_ my older brother."

Itachi smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, there are people who do want to 'mess with you'. And there will come a day, perhaps sooner than you think, where I won't be here to protect you anymore. You need to be strong Sasuke."

Sasuke was starting to get worried at the look in his brother's eyes. "What do you mean? You wouldn't ever leave me, would you Nii-san?"

Itachi felt tears prick at his eyes, and he blinked. "Not unless I had no other choice." He said sadly.

Sasuke didn't look reassured.

"Come on, let's go again." Itachi said, straightening, resuming his stance.

Sasuke nodded, smiling hesitantly, and resumed his own stance.

xxxx

Naruto stared. "It's so...big." He said finally, staring in awe at the shimmering blue than ran as far as the eye could see.

Kushina laughed. "Some sailors at our village used to claim that there was more ocean than land." She told him.

He continued staring in awe, switching his gaze from the horizon down to where the waves were continuously pounding on the shore. He turned, putting his hand over his eyes, staring down the beach.

"This is so cool!" Naruto yelled, casting off his sandals and running down to put his feet in the water, ecstatic about the beach and everything to do with it.

Kushina decided not to tell him about how annoying the sand could be. The sand that would get in his clothes, his hair, his skin, his shoes...the sand that would get everywhere.

Kushina hated sand.

xxxx

Shishui cloaked himself with an illusion not even Itachi could pierce, before alighting on a branch to observe the scene below.

If he didn't know better, he'd say that Itachi was trying to awaken Sasuke's sharingan.

Attacks from every direction, kunai randomly flying from the trees.

They paused for a moment, resting, and Sasuke touched a bleeding mark on his leg.

"Darn! Why won't it work?" He asked, slightly frustrated.

Shishui chose that moment to make his dramatic entrance. He dropped the illusion, and said calmly, from forty feet up, "Because you're training."

He jumped down to the ground, startling Sasuke, who uttered a surprised, "Shishui-san!"

Itachi studied his best friend calmly. One of his favorite things about Shishui was that he was perhaps the only other Uchiha who didn't seem to have a problem with Sasuke. Even though Shishui's parents had been killed in the Kyuubi attack, he never blamed Sasuke. And he ridiculed the people who did.

"The sharingan is most often awakened in times of need; in times of great anger or great fear. If you're training with your brother, who you know won't _really_ hurt you, the Sharingan is not likely to be awakened."

"Anger? So I could just get really angry, and it might work?"

"_No!" _Shishui barked. "Anger is never the answer."

"Huh?" Sasuke asked, even more confused.

Shishui sighed slightly. "Never seek out anger, Sasuke-kun; it will find you. And I want you to remember this question when the times comes: Do you let your anger rule you, or do you rule your anger? Too many Uchiha have died because they couldn't control their emotions."

"Now if you'll excuse us for a moment, I need to talk to your brother." He said, his voice lightening.

Sasuke turned to pick up his kunai pouch as the two friends began to walk away. He turned when Shishui called his name again.

"Oh, and Sasuke-kun? The sharingan is both a blessing and a curse. There's no reason to try and rush things. It's better to just let it come naturally. When you truly need it, your sharingan will answer."

Itachi studied his older friend for a moment, then nodded, as it had been clear that the message had been for him as much as it had been for his little brother.

The two turned, and walked away.

Sasuke picked up his kunai pouch, preparing to practice a little.

He hadn't really understood that conversation at all, but he committed it to memory anyway. Somehow, everything Shishui said ended up being important.

xxxx

Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino lay together on the grass, staring up at the clouds.

It was a beautiful day, nice breeze, not too hot, with a decent cloud cover to keep the sun out of their eyes, but not so many clouds as to make it depressing.

It was cruel, Ino thought, that everyone else could think it was such a great day, when she was having such a terrible day. Normally, she abhorred the thought of cloud-gazing. It was just too boring.

But today, after her mother had freaked out and reminded Ino, for the fiftieth time, that _she _was the reason Inoichi was no longer Clan Head, Ino had had to get out. She needed space, away from her depressing house. She just needed to relax and hang out with people who didn't mind her company.

Unfortunately, the only two people she knew that met that description were Chouji and Shikamaru, the sons of her father's teammates. Which usually meant laying on a hill, watching the clouds go by.

It _was _relaxing though, Ino had to admit. Lying on a hill without a care in the world, it was so easy to forget about her troubles at home. It was so easy to forget about the clan that avoided her, that looked the other way when she walked down the street.

Ino had heard ninja describe how amazing it was to be home after a long mission outside the village. She'd heard of homesickness, of a love for one's own bed. Personally, she'd never really felt it. She'd never considered her home much of a safe-haven, so Ino had never really understood how it felt to be _home._

But, lying here on this hill, she came close. She felt, for once, like she _belonged. _

xxxx

Kiba's mom held the door open for him, and Kiba entered, his hands shaking slightly. He'd been waiting for this day for months, praying. All the other Inuzuka near his age had already gotten their ninken partners last year, and more than anything, Kiba wanted to be like them. He wanted a pup of his own to take care of, a best friend to be there through everything. Because, right now, Kiba was so _alone. _

He entered the room, which was, in reality, a giant pen, where all the new pups stayed with their moms. Several of the litters were still barely a week old, still sucking at their mother's tits.

A simultaneous whine arose from each of the mothers as they caught his scent. Several of them backed up a little, while a few of the braver ones growled at him. Their growls were ruined by the fact that they were steadily backing up.

The pups all shrank away, hiding behind their mothers, ears back and eyes wide in fear.

Kiba held the back of his hand out, but none of the pups seemed even remotely interested in getting closer to smell his hand.

He tried not to be too devastated, he'd tried to prepare for this. But somehow, being rejected again, by every single pup, hurt worse than anything.

Normally, Inuzuka got their pick of the strongest pups in the litter to be their partners, but not Kiba. For some reason Kiba didn't understand, they were all terrified of him.

Beside him, his mother barked a laugh, before turning around to leave. "Maybe next year, son." She didn't sound the least bit empathic, and the door closed behind her with a bang.

Three older boys, Kiba's distant cousins, laughed at him cruelly from across the room, where they were leaning against the wall. Each of them already had their partners, most of the dogs already full-grown.

"Maybe next year, eh Kiba?" They laughed. "Yeah, right. Freak." The boys turned around and left through the door on the opposite side of the room.

Kiba clenched his little fists.

Later that night found him outside, beating on one of the clan's training dummies until his knuckles bled.

_Someday, I'll show them. I'll be the greatest Inuzuka the clan's ever seen, ninken or not_!

xxxx

Naruto stared, his eyes wide, apparently too shocked for words. Before them, a large island lay nestled in the ocean, it's broken buildings a tribute to the Uzumaki clan's destruction. The crumbling marble buildings were still impressive; but not nearly as impressive as they'd been when they were still standing.

When she was still a young girl in Whirlpool, Kushina used to get on the tallest roof in the village, just to look down at the way the sun shimmered across the marble of the village. Every building had been made of a swirling, teal-colored marble that had somehow been transported to the island. The streets had been made of the same marble, and the sun's rays would glimmer across the marble, making the village look like a whirlpool in its own right.

And while the island was certainly impressive, the waters surrounding it were even more so. A swirling, violent mess of tides and currents. From where she was standing right now, on the boat, she could see three different whirlpools. They were violent, spinning creatures almost with a mind of their own, and to come even close to a whirlpool could mean a very swift death, even for a ninja.

"Is this safe?" Kakashi asked, voice light, as if he were merely remarking on the weather.

"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head." The ferryman shouted over the sound of the motor. "Back in my youth, I ferried across these waters a hundred times a day for the Uzumaki clan."

He nodded his head at Kushina. "It's a real pleasure to see that at least one of you survived, miss."

"Oh, I know I'm not the only one left." Kushina told him, smiling. "My clan always was a stubborn lot, there's no way they'd let a little thing like an army end the great Uzumaki clan." Her tone was slightly sarcastic.

"Mmm I believe that." The elderly man agreed, nodding his head. He turned back to Kakashi, "So like I was saying, lad, I can read these waters like the back of my hand."

The wind picked up, and Naruto looked back from where he was kneeling by the bow. "Um..."

No one paid him any attention, either because they didn't hear him over the motor, or because they were too busy laughing at the old man, as he squinted at the back of his hand. "Errr...well my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be, but never fear..."

"Uh...guys?" Naruto asked hesitantly, a little louder.

Kushina turned to look at him, still smiling, and froze. Naruto was pointing a finger, and right in front of them, the waters were slowly starting to spin.

Naruto watched as a sort of eerie calm came over his mother. She turned towards the ferryman, and told him to hold the tiller steady. The man looked around her, and cursed, paling suddenly, clasping the tiller firmly in his hands. Kushina waved Naruto to the side with one hand, while the other reached around to remove the band that kept her hair in a ponytail.

Naruto dashed to the side, clasping the boat with both hands as the current began to pull the boat to the side.

Kakashi watched too, as calm as he always was, his eyes fixed on Kushina. For once he felt totally powerless. The currents would suck the boat down and smash it into the ocean floor. And if that didn't kill them, the pressure at the bottom of the sea floor would crush them.

Jiraiya sat with a small, ironic smile on his face. He was the Great Sage Jiraiya, Toad Summoner, and one of the Sannin, who had made a major difference in two of the ninja world wars. And yet here he was, powerless in front of Nature's might.

Kushina's long hair fanned out behind her, rippling in the wind, and she began making handseals. After performing too many seals for Kakashi to count without using his sharingan, she spread her arms wide, as if welcoming the ocean home after a long journey.

She looked more angel than human, now, Kakashi thought, with her arms spread wide and her hair rippling in the wind, looking down on the waters like an empress on her servants.

Slowly, she lowered her arms, and the waters calmed with them, the water leveling into an unnaturally smooth surface.

After the waters had calmed, Kushina brought her hands back together into another seal, and held it all the way across.

Kushina held the technique until they landed on the beach, until she gasped, and released it. Behind them, there was a giant sucking sound, and a giant whirlpool formed, along with violent, buffeting wind gusts that almost knocked them off their feet.

Quickly, they each grabbed part of the boat, and drug it up the beach, before dropping it and running behind a wall.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Naruto cheered, pushing his bangs out of his eyes.

Kushina smiled wearily, wiping sweat off her face. She gathered her hair back up, putting it back in a ponytail.

"Does that jutsu take _that_ much chakra?" Jiraiya asked, shocked at the display of weariness in Kushina. She had, after all, the most chakra of any non-Jinchuuriki that he knew of. Except for maybe Tsunade.

"I'm dreadfully sorry, miss. I was so distracted I..."

Kushina cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Nonsense. You haven't done this in almost 20 years. I don't expect you to be perfect, Derrick."

The ferryman looked terribly guilty now. "You even remember my name...and I don't know yours."

Kushina smiled again. "There were hundreds of Uzumaki, but there was only a few ferrymen."

"Still...I would've lost my job for this, back in the day. It used to be considered almost unspeakably rude to force the Uzumaki to calm the waters. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you, miss?"

"You can take your boat back across, once that whirlpool dies down. Whirlpool isn't a safe place to be, anymore."

"You want me to _abandon_ you here?" Derrick asked, shocked.

"This place is precarious enough as it is. We might be creating a disturbance, and we wouldn't want to bring down the entire city on your head." Jiraiya explained. "Don't worry, we'll find our own way out."

The man looked unconvinced.

"Please." Kushina said.

"Well, if that's truly what you want..." The man said, still doubtful.

"I'll tell you what." Kushina told him. "We'll come say goodbye before we leave. If you don't see us in a week, send a letter to Konoha. Does that suit you better?"

"I like that a lot better, miss." The man said, smiling. "Much obliged."

"Well, shall we?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes. Stay close to me, Naruto." Kushina said, grabbing his hand.

"See you soon!" The ferryman called, waving.

And so they left the ferryman, standing in the shadow of a crumbling wall, to venture into a silent, crumbling, ancient city.

A/N

This chapter was sort of short, but I just loved that last line too much to _not _make it the last line! KnowwhatImean?

Please Review, tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

Man, I'm churning out these chapters. Go me! (Your reviews help with that a lot, though. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time!)

Do you think there's a Author's Notes: For Dummies?

Cuz I seriously don't understand how people can write multiple pages of them.

Enjoy! :D

**Chapter 4**

_Naruto, 5 years old_

It was getting ready to start raining again, and Naruto was heading home when he smelled it.

Naruto paused mid-leap, and came crashing down, somewhat ungracefully, on a roof. He rolled to his feet, grimacing in pain.

For a second... he had thought that he had smelled...

Naruto's training with the Kyuubi's chakra had done multiple things. For one, his sense of smell and hearing had been vastly increased to well beyond human range. Maybe not as strong as an Inuzuka, but pretty close. His pupil was now a dark blue vertical slit, giving him a slightly feral appearance. His whiskers had darkened just slightly, so that only he had noticed. The hair on the back of his neck stood out slightly, and his hair was slightly spikier than usual. And if Naruto didn't know better, he'd say he'd gotten taller too.

Naruto rolled his shoulders, grimacing at the intense itch, and watched as the burns on his legs and arms healed. He brushed off the dust and dirt, and leaped towards where he thought he had smelled it.

_There. _He found the smell, and leaped towards it, cutting across the roofs.

Naruto had recently taken to patrolling the village every day at dusk. His mom had told him that Minato had used to do the same thing, and now Naruto did it every day. It was soothing, really. Somehow, it made him feel close to his father, and relaxed him after a day of hard training.

Naruto slowed down as he neared a thick wall of trees, around which lay a small pond. The source of the smell lay right on the other side.

He paused as he came around the corner, the sounds of a girl sobbing reaching his ears. He stood frozen, taking in the scene.

She was young, around his age, with startling pink hair and fair skin. She was cute, Naruto decided, in the completely unbiased manner of a 5 year-old. She had her head buried in her arms, and her ankles and shoes were covered in mud. She had a long line of blood on her right arm, but no sign of an injury.

She seemed to sense his presence then, and looked up at him suddenly. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and one of her long locks of pink hair had fallen in front of her face. She pushed it back, and looked at him.

Naruto didn't really know what to say, now. He'd never really had any experience with kids his age...much less girls. Much less crying girls.

"Hi." He said. "My name's Naruto."

The girl looked surprised that he had spoken to her, and she looked at him warily. She sniffled, "Sakura."

"Hi, Sakura."

She moved her arms around to grasp her legs, and put her chin on her knees, not looking at him.

He moved to sit next to her, and they watched the pond as the first drops of rain started to fall.

"We're gonna get soaked." He told her.

"I know." She responded, not moving. He didn't move either.

"My mom's gonna kill me." Naruto continued, in the same matter-of-fact tone.

Sakura smiled for the first time, then laughed softly. "Mine too."

They didn't say anything more, just watching as the drizzle turned into a full-fledged downpour.

Some fifteen minutes later, the rain finally stopped, and they were still sitting in the same positions.

"Aren't you cold?" Sakura asked finally, removing a soaked strand of hair from her forehead.

"I don't really get cold." Naruto responded honestly.

"Me either." Sakura looked down at her arm, where the blood had long since washed away. The mud however, was still caked on, and now she was sitting in it too.

"Aren't you gonna ask me what happened?" She asked finally.

"What happened?" Naruto asked immediately, grinning slightly.

"I was shopping with my parents for Academy stuff." Sakura replied. "But a few villagers started yelling at me. A baker threw a jagged rock at me, and I moved my arm up to block it, but it gave me a long gash on my arm."

"Some ANBU came through and grabbed the man, but people were still muttering, glaring at me. I don't understand, what could I have possibly done to them?" She said this last part slightly hysterically, thumping her head back down on her knees.

"You're going to the Academy?" Naruto asked, surprising Sakura with his response.

She looked at him for as second, then responded, "Yeah. I wanna be like the ANBU, strong enough to protect the people I wanna protect." She said firmly, daring him to make fun of her.

"I'm going to the academy too." Naruto smiled. "I hope we get in the same class!"

Sakura found herself smiling back. "Me too." She said, surprising herself.

"I've never really talked to someone my age before." Naruto said, surprising her again.

She looked at him cautiously, still wary of him making fun of her. "Me either." She said.

"Wanna be friends?" Naruto asked, smiling suddenly.

"If you're making fun of me, I'll kill you." She told him.

"What?" Naruto asked, confused. "Why would I make fun of you?"

Sakura studied him for a second more, then punched him in the shoulder. "Stop asking questions." Naruto rubbed his shoulder, and began to open his mouth again, but Sakura interrupted him.

"And yeah, I'll be your friend."

xxxx

Kiba sat by the pond, skipping rocks across the smooth surface. He was torn by indecision. He wanted to be the strongest Inuzuka ever, to make all those who made fun of him sorry.

Part of him wanted to do it without a ninken, to show that he was stronger even when working alone. But having a ninken partner was part of what made an Inuzuka an Inuzuka. And besides, Kiba was lonely, and he wanted a partner so bad he could hardly stand it. He wanted to be like the other kids, taking their ninken for walks, playing Frisbee, and training together.

But he didn't want to be rejected again. He couldn't stand the sight of all those puppies backed up against the wall. He was just a human, damn it! He was no different than all the rest.

And, Kiba decided, throwing his last rock violently, he'd make them see it. He had a good feeling all of a sudden, a warm feeling in his gut. He'd get a ninken partner this year, no matter what.

His mother looked up when he entered the room. She smiled, immediately grasping why he was there. "Trying again this year, son?"

Tsume, unlike most of the clan, didn't seem to have a problem admitting they were related. But Hana was always the special one, the one who got 3 ninken partners, the one Tsume was training to take over the clan one day. Even his mother didn't think he had what it took. But he'd show her, too, along with the rest of them.

Kiba merely nodded, trying not to provoke her.

Tsume gave a feral grin, and rose to her feet, beckoning him to follow.

She opened the door to the nursing room, holding it open for him. "Good luck." She said, grinning.

Kiba entered the room, and almost immediately, the dogs began backing up, whining. The pups cowered, hiding behind their mothers, ears back and eyes wide.

Kiba felt his heart drop. He had been so sure that this year it would be different. He had been determined to get a partner, but now, with them all cowering away from him, he just didn't see how he could.

Kiba lowered his head to his chest, feeling tears starting to prick at his eyes. He'd always be the loser who couldn't get a partner, he'd always be that freak who couldn't even get a dog to like him.

A sharp growl jerked him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see a white dog, the bravest mother in the group, growling at him, the only dog not backed up to the wall.

Kiba wasn't in the mood, and he found himself snarling back, revealing his fangs. The dog gave a startled yelp, and she dashed to the wall to hide with the rest of the dogs. Kiba stood frozen. When she had moved, she'd revealed one last puppy, one that he hadn't seen before.

It was tiny, pink, and could hardly be a day old. Its eyes were still closed, and it was laying on its side, chest heaving.

Kiba moved closer, slowly. The pup didn't move. Kiba moved forward slowly, and bent down, holding the back of his hand down to its nose. The pup sniffed his hand, not like it had any other choice, and Kiba froze in shock when a small, pink tongue, leaped out to lick his hand.

Kiba slowly picked it up, being extremely careful, when he heard the voice of his mother behind him.

"It's premature, Kiba. It's weak. That pup will probably die today."

"I won't let him!" Kiba swore fiercely, shaking his head for emphasis, while making sure not to disturb the puppy.

Tsume stood looking at him, a bemused smile on her face. After a pause she said, "If you say so."

"So I can keep him?" Kiba asked, holding the pup close to his chest.

She crossed her arms, and frowned slightly. "If he lives."

Kiba smiled from ear to ear. "I'm gonna call him Akamaru!" He said excitedly, racing from the room.

Tsume found herself smiling, despite herself. "Good luck." She said, to the empty space where he had been.

Most of the clan thought of him as the fox, the Kyuubi. But she never could. His energy, his smile, his determination, his looks. His smell reminded everyone else of the Kyuubi. But Kiba always reminded her of his father. She smiled sadly, lost in memories, before she shook her head and sped up her pace. She was the Alpha, and she had no times for such things.

xxxx

"So all I have to do is focus enough chakra down into my feet to stick to the tree?" Sakura asked.

"Yup." Naruto confirmed.

Sakura put one foot on the tree, and was promptly blown backwards, the force of her chakra splitting the tree.

Sakura gritted her teeth and sat up, ignoring Naruto, who had promptly fallen over, laughing hysterically.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry." Naruto gasped in between breaths. "It's just...I did the exact same thing the first couple of times." He told her, still holding his stomach.

Sakura glared at him, then looked back at the blackened crater in the tree, which was now standing at a very awkward angle.

"I would definitely pick a different tree." said Kakashi, without looking up from his book.

Sakura studied the masked man, still a little surprised that he was teaching her.

Kushina, in turn, was studying Sakura. She was still a little amused at how Naruto had just brought Sakura over one day, to start training. Kakashi had immediately started training her too, as if it were perfectly normal for him to teach just whoever Naruto brought over.

It was also amusing that out of all the friends Naruto might've made, he just happened to make friends with one of his fellow Jinchuuriki. Kushina had wondered briefly if Naruto had known, then decided that he probably had. She wished Jiraiya had been here, so she could've seen his reaction, but unfortunately he was on one of his long trips out of the village.

Sakura was starting to get visibly frustrated on her tenth try, when she had yet to get even five steps up the tree.

Naruto was too busy training with shuriken, and Kakashi was too busy reading his book to notice, so Kushina stepped in to comfort the girl.

She brought the young girl a glass of water, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get frustrated, Sakura. The more chakra you have, the harder it becomes to control. And you have a _lot_ of chakra, a lot more than any normal shinobi."

"I do?" Sakura asked, surprised.

Kushina smiled, and nodded. "Nowhere near as much as Naruto, but way more than the average shinobi."

She turned to walk away again, but was stopped by Sakura's voice. "Just how much chakra do I have?"

Kushina turned around, and studied the girl critically. "By the time you're a genin, you'll probably have about 40 times as much as an average jounin."

"Really?" Sakura asked, totally shocked. "Then how much does Naruto have?"

Kushina grinned. "By the time he's a genin, he'll probably have about 100 times as much chakra as Kakashi, who's an elite ANBU."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

"Nope." Kushina turned around. "You kids are special."

xxxx

Hinata tried not to let her frustration show as she rose to her feet, again. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn't focus her chakra right. The Gentle Fist style used sharp jabs of chakra to close specific points in the chakra network. But Hinata just couldn't get her chakra to focus right, she didn't have anywhere near the level of control her sister had.

"Again."

Hinata settled into her stance again, concentrating. She'd get it right, this time. She had to.

Hanabi jumped forward, arm extended, palm open. Hinata met her halfway, desperately trying to focus her chakra into a sharp strike. But it was useless, Hinata's chakra came out as a pathetic wave, folding before the sharpness of Hanabi's controlled spike.

Hanabi's chakra spiked into Hinata's arm, knocking her slightly off balance, and Hanabi jumped up to perform a perfect roundhouse kick, the blast of chakra sending Hinata flying backwards.

"Hinata-sama!" She heard Ko cry out. With her Byakugan on, she saw him surge halfway to his feet, before stopping and settling back on his knees. Hiashi, clan-head, and Hinata and Hanabi's father, shook his head in disgust, and left the room.

Hinata felt tears begin to prick at her eyes, and she turned off her Byakugan. She just couldn't do it, no matter how many times she tried, she just couldn't control her chakra like Hanabi could!

She hated being weak, she hated failing her father, she hated losing to her little sister, and she hated crying. But somehow she couldn't stop the tears from coming, even in front of her sister.

She scrambled to her feet, and ran from the room. She needed to get _out_, away from that place, away from her perfect little sister.

"Hinata-sama!" Ko gasped behind her, but she didn't stop, she just ran. Out, through the gates, down into the street, determined to get as far away from the compound as she could.

As she ran, she kept her head down, tears streaming down the side of her face.

Suddenly, she ran into something full-throttle, crashing and falling to a stop. She looked up, to see a young boy, a few years older than herself, looking down at her. Behind him stood two of his buddies. The leader was holding an his arm out in shock, and down on the ground, his ice-cream lay from where she had knocked it out of his hand.

"Hey!" The boy grabbed her arm, his face livid, taking her off the path and into the woods, his two buddies behind him. "I paid good money for that ice cream, stupid!"

"She looks like Neji, I think she's a Hyuuga!" One of the boy's friends said.

"Yeah, I hate nobles like this." The three boys surrounded her.

Hinata felt the tears start to flow again, and she attempted to dash through the boys, back towards the street. But the boy she'd bumped into grabbed her arm, and forced her back into their circle.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? Running off without even apologizing?" The boy grabbed her head and shoved her down on to her hands and knees. "Apologize! And do it properly."

"Apologize!" His friends echoed.

"I-I'm sorry." Hinata gasped out against her sobs, her voice coming out soft and weak. _Like the rest of me_.

"Eh? I can barely hear you. Say it like you mean it."

"I-I'm sorry." It came out weak again. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" She sobbed, terrified.

"Hey. Quit it."

The boys all turned around, and Hinata looked up.

Before them stood a young boy, around Hinata's age. He had spiky blonde hair, tan skin, and piercing blue eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt, with a blue whirlpool symbol on the front. His tan shorts had a belt looped through them, and a small weapon's pouch hung on each side. He was tall and skinny, almost as tall as the older boys.

"Huh? Who are you? You think you're some kind of ninja or something with those kunai pouches?"

The boy stared steadily at the leader, his blue eyes calm. "Something like that." He agreed, not breaking eye contact. Hinata found herself gasping in surprise; she'd never be able to stand up to someone like that.

"Eh? You messing with me? I'll teach you to make fun of me!" The bully swung at the newcomer, his fist aimed directly at the blonde's face.

The blonde caught the fist easily, then shoved his arm back. "All of you. Get Lost."

"Eh? Nobody talks like that to boss!"

"Yeah, he's taking us lightly!" The two cronies shouted, and all three of the older boys leaped at the blonde.

Hinata whimpered, but couldn't manage to look away either.

So fast she could barely see, the blonde punched the first bully in the stomach, causing him to fall over, clutching his stomach.

Then he suddenly appeared behind the two cronies, and smacked their heads together with an audible _crack_. They both fell to the ground.

Hinata gasped, not believing her eyes. Not even her half-brother, Neji, was that fast. And he was supposed to be the strongest Hyuuga in a generation.

The bullies struggled to their feet slowly. "Shit, let's get out of here!" They scrambled away, and Hinata thought she might've seen a small smile on Naruto's face, before it disappeared.

Naruto slowly walked over to her, and offered her his hand. She took it, immediately feeling the warmth of his hand, and the uneven bumps of his calluses. She blushed, and he gently pulled her to his feet.

"I'm sorry about that." He told her. Without even knowing why, Naruto lifted his hand, and gently wiped away the tears on her cheek with his thumb.

She blushed even deeper, feeling slightly faint, and Naruto couldn't help but think of how cute it made her look. She started to bow to him, "T-Thank you very much!" She gasped, but he had already caught her shoulder.

"Don't bow to me." He said gently. "I just did what any decent person would done. My name's Uzumaki Naruto, by the way."

"N-Nice to meet you, Naruto-san. I-I'm H-Hyuuga Hinata." She said, straightening up.

"Nice to meet you too Hinata-chan!" He exclaimed, his face morphing into a wide smile.

Hinata blushed slightly at the familiar address.

"Hinata-sama!" Ko's voice cut through the trees.

Naruto's face twitched slightly. "You're a Hyuuga, so you'll be at the Academy, right?"

"Y-Yes." Hinata stuttered.

"I hope we're in the same class!" Naruto exclaimed, then dashed away, the abruptness of his exit leaving her gaping after him in surprise. Then she closed her mouth.

_I hope so too, Naruto-kun. _Hinata thought, just as Ko broke into the clearing. "Hinata-sama!" He gasped, catching his breath.

"We can go back now, Ko." She said evenly , turning, her back straight, her thoughts still dwelling on her mysterious blonde rescuer.

"Hinata-sama?" Ko asked, bewildered. But she was already gone, and Ko had to scramble to catch up.

xxxx

_Six Months Later _

It was the first day of the school year, and Hinata was nervous. So nervous that she left half an hour early, to the point where she had to stop at every opportunity along the way, just so she wouldn't be ridiculously early.

She had take what she had thought was a detour, and then ended up getting lost, and had to backtrack. She was still fifteen minutes early, and she hoped she wasn't the only one in the courtyard.

But no, she saw with relief, she wasn't the only one who had gotten there early.

xxxx

Naruto lounged against the brick wall, trying to look calm, trying to stay still, while inside his stomach was filled with butterflies. He'd woken up early, taken his time eating breakfast, and tried to drag out every task on his way out of the house. But it hadn't really worked, he'd been way too excited for his first day.

He looked up then, as Hinata entered the courtyard, looking around anxiously. There were already thirty other kids here, some of them older students, but most of them first-years.

For a second, Naruto wondered if she would recognize him, but then she caught his eyes, and she blushed deeply. He supposed that meant that she did remember him.

But then, behind her, someone else walked in.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" He called, waving his hand.

xxxx

Hinata felt her heart begin beating again. For a second, she had thought Naruto was waving to her, and she'd been about to walk over. But then a young girl with pink hair had walked past her, calling a greeting to Naruto.

She stayed frozen for a second, watching as the girl, whose name she supposed was Sakura, moved over to talk to Naruto.

Naruto looked over, just then, and caught her gaze. He winked, flashing a grin at her, and Hinata felt all the blood in her body rush to her face, as she hurriedly looked down, pressing her fingers together nervously.

Had that wink...had that meant..._No,_ She told herself, _Naruto-kun was just being friendly. _Still blushing, and feeling slightly feint, Hinata moved to sit with her back to a tree.

There was no way she'd be able to approach him now.

xxxx

Kiba fidgeted in his seat, impatient to start. Akamaru, perhaps the lightest puppy in the history of the Inuzuka, sat on his head. Kiba had picked a seat at the very back of the class, next to a big boy named Chouji who was munching on chips noisily.

The teacher, a scowling old man with a short white beard, was slowly calling the roll. Just then, the door opened, and a woman and her son were revealed.

The woman smiled nervously. "Hi, uh, sorry we're late..." She trailed off, and Kiba frowned. She had to be a civilian.

Suddenly the woman froze, and Kiba caught her staring at a young boy in the back. He was blonde, with light scars that looked like whiskers on his face. He was whispering to a young girl with pink hair, who was holding her hand over her mouth to stop laughter.

Kiba turned back around, to see the woman had now switched her gaze to the young girl. Then it traveled around the room, her expression gradually becoming more horrified. Her gaze paused on him for a moment, before moving down his row.

"Uh." The woman smiled, her face white. "N-Never mind actually. Come on, honey, you can start next year." She firmly pulled her protesting son away.

He was the first to go.

xxxx

_One week later_

Naruto frowned, fidgeting with his pen impatiently. Slowly the class had dwindled in size, to the point where only nine students remained.

Naruto grinned suddenly. There was no way it was a coincidence. That out of four first-year classes, all nine Jinchuuriki got placed in the same class. Perhaps the old man had arranged it that way.

Originally, the tables had been arranged in rows, with two or three people at each table. But now they had shoved all the other tables against the wall, and put two of the tables together. All nine of them sat around the large table, playing a card game.

Naruto wasn't playing. He had never thought much of card games; they were far too easy for him.

Their instructor had walked out this morning, and now the nine of them were left, unsupervised, waiting for an adult to come in and tell them what was going on.

xxxx

"Hokage-sama? You summoned me?" Iruka asked, stepping into the Hokage's office.

"Ah, Iruka. Yes, come in, sit down." Hiruzen gestured to the chair opposite him.

"What's this about?" Iruka asked.

The Third surveyed him over his clasped hands. "I think you know. This morning, Gallen handed in his resignation. I want you to take over his class."

Iruka scowled. "Hokage-sama, I'm afraid I must decline. You know I can't teach them, and besides, right now I've got what looks to be one of the most well behaved classes I've ever had."

"Why can't you teach them?" Hiruzen asked.

"Are you going to make me say it, Hokage-sama?" Iruka paused, and the Hokage said nothing. "Fine. They killed my parents, okay?" He said, slumping slightly in his seat.

"Nine babies, still in their cribs, managed to take out two adult Chunin?" The Hokage asked, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"You know what I mean." Iruka said, disgruntled.

"No, Iruka. You know what _I _mean. They're just kids, Iruka. Not the demon they contain. Give them a shot; give them one week." he coaxed gently. "If you still think they're demons after one week, I'll let you switch back to your _behaved _class."

Iruka slumped even further in his seat. "I can't."

The Hokage frowned, then sighed. "I thought you were better than this, Iruka." He said sadly.

Iruka continued looking down at the floor. If there was one thing Konoha ninja couldn't stand, it was letting down their Hokage.

He sighed heavily. "Fine. One week."

"Excellent. They're waiting for you." The Hokage said, returning to his paperwork.

As Iruka closed the door behind him, the Third smiled. That was almost too easy.

xxxx

The door slammed open, and a teacher wearing his flak jacket and headband entered. He was young, tan, and had a scar running across his nose onto both cheeks in a straight line.

His mouth was set firmly into a tight scowl, and his eyes were smoldering. He tossed his briefcase onto the desk, then looked up at them.

"Well?" He asked, that one word sending shivers down their spines. All of them jumped up immediately, even Shino, and in seconds, three tables were pushed to the front of the room, in a half circle in front of Iruka's desk.

"You may call me Iruka-sensei." He said, his eyes still smoldering.

"I'm going to be honest with you...I don't want to teach you." They stayed silent. "I don't want to teach you unless you can prove to me that you're worth my time and effort."

Naruto didn't know about the others, but he knew that he was sitting up as straight as physically possible.

"Therefore, for the next week, we'll be moving a little faster than usual. We'll cover in four days what the other classes spend three weeks to cover. I see that almost all of you are from a clan. That's good; you'll need all the help you can get."

Iruka put his palms down on his desk, looming over it, and he looked each of them in the eye. "We'll be having a test on Friday. I'll tell you this right now; if even one of you fails, I'm done. You'll either have to get a new teacher, or..." he paused, a slight smile on his face. "They might just kick you out of the academy."

Silence.

"I hope your parents have taught you all how to read and write. If not, you have four days to learn. I expect you to be able to read the questions and write basic answers for the test Friday."

Iruka was a little disappointed to see that none of them looked alarmed by this prospect.

"Now. Someone tell me what you know about chakra. And speak up; your classmates will want to be able to hear you. Their career might just depend on it."

xxxx

Naruto rolled over in his sleep. Ever since he had first accessed the Kyuubi's chakra, had first felt it pouring out through his seal, he'd had weird dreams.

Actually, they'd been his first dreams. He'd never really had dreams before.

But now, he'd been receiving random thoughts, emotions and flashes of people he didn't know, houses he didn't know.

Tonight was even worse than usual.

_A large man, laughing, his long red hair cascading down his back. His body, while huge, didn't jiggle. It was all muscle. He had a chicken leg in his hand, and a glass of wine in the other. _

_An unnaturally solemn teenager with raven black hair, fiercely pelting a target with kunai._

_A blonde woman slamming a door in his face. _

_Tossing and turning in a bed that wasn't his, blankets piled on top of him. Impatiently sweeping long, pink hair out of his face._

_Pale, cruel eyes, looking down at him as he lay sprawled on the mat. _

_The solemn teenager again, walking on his porch. From the other direction, an equally solemn man, perhaps his father, came forward. He felt a flash of concern as they passed each other, not even acknowledging each other's presence. _

_Amusement, as a small white puppy barked fiercely, chasing a squirrel across the field. _

_A man in a huge coat and sunglasses, nodding to him. He felt a flash of pride, and looked down to where he'd willed the bugs to form the Aburame clan symbol. There wasn't a bug out of line. _

_An adult with a scarred face, sitting at a table. He had long black hair that tied back, and it swung around as he looked to where the door was opening, admitting a young blonde girl. "Your mom kick you out again tonight, Ino?" The man asked gently. "What a troublesome woman."_

_"You need to become stronger, Sasuke. I won't always be here to protect you." _

A harsh beeping. No, wait, that was just his alarm clock. Naruto groggily reached over, and shut the stupid thing off.

He sat up, holding his head. "I've got a problem." Unsurprisingly, his bedroom offered no response.

"Did you sleep well?" Kushina asked, as Naruto stumbled into the kitchen.

"No." Naruto said simply, sitting down. He was scowling, like he always did when thinking hard.

"Um, honey?" She asked. No response. "Naruto!" She said sharply. "Fix your shirt."

Naruto started, looking up suddenly. Then he looked back down. "Oh!"

Kushina tried not to laugh as he figured out that not only was his shirt on backwards, but it was inside out too.

"Are you worried about that big test today?" She asked.

"That's today?" He asked, in mild surprise.

"It _is_ Friday, dear." She said dryly. Sometimes she wished he was a little less like his father.

"Oh. You kidding? I'ma ace this thing!"

And other times, she wished he was a little less like her.

xxxx

"So did you give them your special test? How'd it go?" The Hokage asked, trying to hide a grin. It was hard though, with Iruka's excitement so palpable.

Iruka sat the file on his desk, sitting on the edge of his chair. "I gave them the third-year final. The _third-year _final!"

"And they passed?" The Hokage's pipe fell out of his mouth.

"Of course not!" Iruka laughed. "But look at these scores! Not a single one of them got below a fifty! Sakura got a 65! On the _third-year _final!"

The Hokage smiled. "I take it you're happy with the results."

"Happy? I'm thrilled! They've easily got the most potential out of any class I've ever seen!"

The Hokage grinned. "I suppose this is when I should say_ I told you so_."

Iruka laughed. "I guess so. I also wanted to apologize for my behavior the other day. It was hardly appropriate."

Hiruzen waved that off. "Nonsense. It was perfectly understandable. I'm just glad to see that you've put your grudge behind you."

"Yeah." Iruka agreed. "But that doesn't mean I can't keep playing the 'hardass teacher'." He said. "It's too much fun."

"And it's apparently very motivating, as well." The Third said, waving his hand at the folder.

"Yes...well...I can't take all the credit. They're a very driven bunch of kids."

"And?"

"And I'm going to do my part to make them some of the best damn shinobi this village has ever seen." Iruka promised firmly.

xxxx

_Whump. _

Danzo whirled around, to see that a man had dropped through the window behind him, collapsing to the floor. He had blood trailing out of his mouth, and a long cut down his back.

"Shishui?"

xxxx

**A/N**

**Yeah!** How bout dat badass Iruka? ...And how bout dat cliffhanger...

I hope I laid some of your fears to rest concerning a certain Inuzuka. It just wouldn't be Kiba without Akamaru by his side...

Anyway, how'd you like the chapter? Thoughts, concerns? Talk to me!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

It's been 5 chapters...and I still don't own Naruto. Huh.

I think this is my longest chapter on this site. Huh.

Enjoy, huh? :D

**Chapter 5**

_Earlier that night._

The Uchiha Meeting Hall was a long, wide, open building. Currently, long rows of chairs were set out in front of a small stage. They had called this town meeting to "discuss the current state of the village".

Shishui twisted his mouth in disgust. It was the third meeting in a week, and the plans for the coup were set in motion. Now, the "meeting" was basically just a pep rally.

The Uchiha refused to listen to him, refused to listen to reason. They would be slaughtered, and they would take a good portion of the rest of Konoha's shinobi with them.

Arrogance had become a relative term for the once great Uchiha clan. They had become twisted, firm in their belief of nature superiority.

He had tried, he had talked for hours, tried to convince them to see the truth; to see that the Uchiha clan would lose, and their name forever cursed as traitors.

But it was useless.

Standing up, Shishui made the decision to take matters into his own hands.

A small smirk found itself onto Shishui's face; as he found himself leaving before the meeting even started. He had tried every other available option. It was time to tell Danzo-sama everything.

xxxx

"Shishui-san!"

Shishui froze, just 5 steps outside the door. He turned around, making sure to keep his tone light. "Yashiro-san. What may I do for you?"

"I was just wondering where you were going." The man said, pretending to make it an innocent question.

Shishui's eyes narrowed. The man suspected something. "I'm going to tell Danzo-sama what the Uchiha Clan is up to." Shishui's eyes widened in shock; he hadn't meant to say anything at all!

Yashiro's eyes suddenly morphed into the Sharingan, and he drew a sword from over his back, leaping forward to cut at Shishui.

Shishui was frozen in shock for a second, but with his infamous speed he managed to roll to the side, and the sword only gently sliced his back, whereas before it would've sliced him from shoulder to hip.

Shishui's eyes morphed into his own Sharingan, and he rolled to his feet warily, watching to see if the man would be stupid enough to lunge again.

Yashiro chuckled. "Really, Shishui-san. You should know better than to drink something you didn't pour yourself. Did you know? The Yamanaka have developed a drug that, with just one drop, will force a man to blurt out exactly what's on his mind."

Shishui gasped suddenly, his back on fire.

Yashiro grinned. "And that poison, the one on my sword, will kill you in less than a minute. You should've known better than to cross the Uchiha." He said haughtily, putting his sword back in his sheath.

"No." Shishui said, reaching into his coat. "You should've know better than to underestimate me." He popped two bright blue pills into his mouth and with a whirl of leaves, he was gone.

Yashiro stood, standing in shock. Just one soldier pill would give a man the energy to fight for three days straight, without sleeping. Taking two was...suicidal. And why would Shishui have pills on him now, of all times?

Yashiro scowled. Even with soldier pills, Shishui would be dead before the night was over. He was sure of that.

xxxx

Shishui coughed, and Danzo saw him swallow two soldier pills. Shakily, the man stumbled to his feet. Danzo made a signal, and a man dropped from the ceiling to land behind Shishui, supporting him and healing the slash on his back.

"I'm afraid..." Shishui coughed. "I've been withholding crucial information, Danzo-sama."

"Yes, I know." Danzo said calmly. "Your friend Uchiha Itachi has been informing the Hokage of the Uchiha clan's...actions since two weeks ago.

"I see." Shishui coughed.

"Has the date been confirmed?"

"Yes." Shishui coughed. "One week from today."

"I see." Danzo said, straightening. "While I am disappointed in you, I am glad to see you back."

"Unfortunately this...poison will kill me soon." Shishui told him. "I'm sorry I couldn't be a perfect tool for you, Danzo-sama. I never have been able to suppress my emotions. Please, take this, my last gift to you, as an apology."

His eyes morphed into the ancient Mangekyo Sharingan Danzo had heard of. Suddenly, a crow seemed to emerge out of his head, spreading it's wings and circling the room, before landing on Danzo's desk. It only had one eye; a large glowing red eye, Shishui's Sharingan.

Danzo opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted. "I'm sorry, Danzo-sama. But..." Shishui coughed, one of his eyelids shut tight. "I have one last thing to do."

There was a whirl of leaves and wind, and then Shishui was gone.

Danzo extended his hand slowly, then stroked the crow's feathers gently. He had been given much to think about.

xxxx

Itachi sped after the crow. It was an illusion, of course. One that he could easily pierce through, but it wasn't made to be strong; it was made to lead Itachi to Shishui.

He reached the edges of Konoha, and Itachi easily leapt over the wall, landing just outside the village. A small creek cut through a small clearing, the rippling of the water the only sound in an otherwise silent clearing.

Before Itachi's very eyes, the air appeared to shift, and Shishui left his illusion, almost as if stepping through a doorway. Itachi noticed with concern that one of Shishui's eyes was firmly shut.

As Itachi watched, Shishui popped four small blue pills into his mouth.

"Shishui! What the hell are you doing?" Itachi's normally calm facade crumbled as he watched his best friend take a lethal dose of solder pills.

"Be quiet, we don't have much time." Shishui said, his arm holding his stomach. "I have a poison spreading through my veins; I'm basically living off soldier pills right now."

"Who did it?" Itachi asked, regaining some of his calm demeanor.

"Yashiro." Shishui coughed. "I was stupid, and was found out on my way to Danzo-sama."

Itachi frowned.

"Listen, Itachi." Shishui beckoned him forward, while sinking to his knees.

Itachi jumped forward, catching his friend before he could face-plant in the dirt. Shishui clawed weakly at Itachi's shirt, forcing him to look him in the eyes.

"You must do...what your heart tells you to do." He told him, poking Itachi's chest for emphasis. "I was too slow...slower than you to see it. Good...luck, Itachi. You were the best friend I ever had."

His remaining eye morphed into the Mangekyo Sharingan, something Itachi had only seen a couple times. One black claw seemed to emerge from his eye socket, followed by a long, sleek, black body. The crow hopped up onto Itachi's shoulder, where it stayed still.

"One use...every ten years." Shishui muttered, so low that Itachi almost didn't hear it. "Use it well." He grimaced then, clawing at his heart.

"Does it hurt?" Itachi asked, too numb to ask anything else. He barely noticed as the crow hopped off his shoulder, melting into shadow to hide in the folds of his cloak.

"Like fire...in my veins." Shishui gasped. Suddenly, his eyelids flew open, his empty eye sockets staring straight through Itachi.

"End it!" He grasped Itachi's arm in a death grip, the cords on his neck standing out harshly. "Please." His face was white, desperate, his feet locked in spasms.

Itachi nodded stupidly, freeing his arm. He reached back for his kunai pouch, flipping up the flap, his hand closing around a single kunai.

"Right...here."Shishui gasped, his fingers poking his heart.

Itachi nodded again, feeling a strange itch in his eyes, "Rest in Peace...brother." He stabbed down, harshly. The sound of the kunai striking home resounded in his ears, and he barely managed to keep from vomiting.

In his last second, Shishui smiled, picturing Yashiro's face. Even in his dying moments, Shishui achieved more than that maggot ever would.

xxxx

The air around Shishui's body shimmered, and an illusion stronger than anything Itachi had ever seen settled on top. Shishui lay, both his eyes open, laying in a pool of his own blood. His arms were cut, the veins slit up and down his arms. A note, slightly bloody, lay on his chest, his eyes staring up vacantly into the sky.

Itachi frowned. Before, he never would've been able to pierce that illusion. But now he could pick out the overlay, and the muted colors of the real body underneath.

Itachi found himself smiling slightly. Even in death, Shishui was fooling the eyes of the world.

A rustle in the trees above caused Itachi to whirl around, three kunai already in his hand.

There was a man sitting on a branch, dangling his feet and kicking them back and forth like a child. He was wearing a dark cloak, and a bright orange mask with a weird spiral design on it. His eye was hidden in shadow. Itachi clenched his fist. "Who are you?"

"My name's Tobi!" The man replied, in a voice too high pitched to be normal. "Congratulations on awakening your Mangekyo Sharingan! I've always admired the Uchiha who've awakened it! In recent years...I think there's been..." Tobi tapped the bottom of his mask in thought. "Two."

He laughed, clapping his hands together. "One." He pointed at Shishui, then moved his hand to point at Itachi's chest. "Two."

"What do you want?" Itachi asked evenly, a little disturbed.

"Oh." The man's voice was suddenly deeper, darker. More mature, more experienced.

"I've heard about your little problem. " He pointed two fingers at Itachi's eyes. "I can show you how to use _those_. In a week's time, I can have you at the point where the two of us, alone, could take out _all _the Uchiha."

"And what do you get in return?" Itachi asked calmly.

"Revenge." The man said, relishing the word. He straightened up. "You see, history often repeats itself. Not too long ago, your same Uchiha clan ignored the advice of their greatest warrior, just as they did this time. They shunned him, banished him when they should've heeded his warning. And look at the once great Uchiha clan now. I don't think I need to tell _you _how far they've fallen."

"And that's all you want?" Itachi asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Maybe one more thing. I'm recruiting for a certain group...you may have heard of them. Assuming everything goes to plan, I'd like to extend an offer of membership."

"What group?"

"Their name is Akatsuki."

Itachi kept his face masked, while inside his heart was beating like mad. "I have heard of them."

"Interested?" The man asked, his voice once again switching into a higher pitch.

"First things first." Itachi said.

"Ohhh yes, of course. This is going to be so much fun!" The man leaped down from the branch, landing in front of him.

"Come on, follow Tobi. We can go somewhere more private. Tobi doesn't want to run into any ANBU." He giggled, a high pitched sound that made the hair on the back of Itachi's neck stand up. "That might be messy!"

xxxx

Itachi and Sasuke sat on the porch together, watching the sunset.

"I'm sorry I've been so distant lately, Sasuke."

Sasuke pulled his legs up, and turned so that his head was resting against Itachi's shoulder, the easy movement bringing a small smile to Itachi's face.

"That's okay, nii-san. I've been training really hard, and studying really hard, so I've been busy too."

Itachi frowned, looking up at the sky. "I understand that you're at the top of your class."

"Yeah." Sasuke smiled. "It's really tough too, but I only have eight people to compete with."

"What about the other classes?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke laughed. "Iruka-sensei told us that we're so far ahead of the other classes that there's not even a point in comparing them."

"I see. Watch out, Sasuke. It's easy for those who become the best to become isolated and arrogant. I see those qualities in myself, now. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up hating me."

Sasuke whirled around, staring at his brother in shock. "I could never hate you, nii-san!"

Itachi studied Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah?"

"No way! You've always been there for me, more than anyone else! There's no way I could hate you!"

"I see." Itachi said, calmly turning to face the sky once again.

Sasuke looked at his brother warily, and was about to speak again, when he was interrupted by a loud call.

"Itachi, are you there? We need to speak with you!"

xxxx

Sasuke poked his head around the corner of the hallway. From where he was, he could see Itachi's back, three clansmen in front of him. And he could hear everything.

"What is it?" Itachi asked, calmly.

"There were only two men missing from last night's meeting. Why did you not come?"

A memory surfaced, a crow with a red eye showing up in front of him, cawing at him urgently to follow. Itachi said nothing, focusing on keeping his emotions under guard.

"We understand that you've been busy with missions lately, ever since you joined ANBU." Tekka said.

"But we don't intend to treat you any differently." Yashiro said, his silver hair sticking up. Itachi quelled his rising anger, maintaining his smooth outer appearance.

"I understand, I'll try to be more careful. Please leave." _Before I kill you._

"Yes, but before we do, there's one more thing you need to answer." Yashiro said, his voice remarkably haughty for someone talking to one of their betters.

"It's regarding a suicide body found last night, down by the Nakano river. Of Uchiha Shishui."

_You dare say his name in front of me, worm? _Itachi unclenched his jaw.

"I thought you considered Shishui a true brother." The Tekka said, a subtle edge to his tone.

"I see." Itachi said calmly. "I haven't met with him in a while...that is truly sad to hear."

"So we, the police force, have decided to conduct an investigation." Tekka continued.

"An Investigation?" Itachi asked. "You said it was a suicide...what is there to investigate?"

"Here's his suicide note." Yashiro said, holding it out.

"For one with the Sharingan, it's easy to forge another's handwriting." Tekka continued.

Itachi looked down at the note.

_I'm tired of the duties..._

_There is no future for the Uchiha..._

_or for me..._

_I cannot walk "the path" any further._

Itachi found his smirk remarkably easy to conceal.

_There is no future for the Uchiha. _Trust Shishui to leave hidden messages in a suicide note. One last bit of encouragement for a friend.

"He was feared as Shishui of the mirage, a man who would do any mission for Konoha, any mission for the Clan. He doesn't seem like the type to just leave something behind like this and die." Tekka continued, glaring at Itachi.

"It's not wise to judge others based on appearances and your own preconceptions." Itachi responded evenly.

Tekka clenched his jaw. "I'll leave that with you. Take it to the ANBU and tell them to investigate as well."

"Understood." Itachi felt a sense of relief as the three men turned around, beginning to walk away.

"And remember-" Tekka said, over his shoulder. "We have our own contacts in ANBU. If that note doesn't get to them...we'll know."

Itachi clenched his fist. "Why don't you be a little more direct?" He asked, an edge of anger in his voice. He felt his Sharingan activate, a gentle itch around his eyes.

The three men halted, and turned, their own eyes wheeling with the sharingan. "You think I had something to do with this?" Itachi asked.

"Look, Itachi." Yashiro said, an arrogant smirk on his face. "If you cross the clan, you won't get away with it."

Too fast for Sasuke to see, Itachi moved. Two seconds later, all three men lay sprawled in the street, Itachi standing above them.

"I told you not to judge others based on your own preconceptions." Itachi said, his voice seething. "For example, you have made the mistake of assuming I am a tolerant man."

"The clan this, the clan that. You all hide behind a name, and fail to accurately measure your own pitiful capacity. And you have no ability to grasp the depth of mine. As a result, you lie beaten here, on the ground in front of me, crawling on your hands and knees."

"What exactly are you saying?" Yashiro asked, rage clear on his face as he stumbled to his feet, clutching his ribs.

Sasuke had never seen Itachi this mad before.

"You hold onto your organization, your clan, your name. These things limit us, and limit our capacity. It is foolish of you to fear what you've yet to see and know!"

"Itachi, enough!" Fuguku's deep bellow reached Sasuke's ears, and he saw Itachi turn. If possible, Itachi looked even angrier, before he schooled his expression.

"Enough already. What's wrong with you? You've been acting strange, lately..." Fuguku continued. "Why weren't you at the meeting last night?"

Itachi's eyes had glazed over, as if he was ignoring the other man. Sasuke was surprised to see that Itachi, while only thirteen, was already almost as tall as his father.

"In order...to reach the height." Itachi said softly.

"What?" Fuguku asked, bewildered.

"Of my capacity. I have lost all hope for this pathetic clan!" Itachi's eyes blazed, and he drew a kunai and sent it flying, to bury in the center of the Uchiha clan symbol painted on the wall.

Sasuke didn't like this, didn't like it one bit. If he didn't know better, he'd say that Itachi was trying to pick a fight with four adults.

"Stop, nii-san!" Sasuke shrieked.

Itachi turned, startled, his shocked eyes meeting Sasuke's. It was clear that he had completely forgotten his presence.

He sank to his knees, slowly, and put his forehead on the road. "It was not me who killed Shishui, but for the words I have spoken, I am deeply sorry."

Silence. Then Fuguku sighed. "Lately, he has been very busy, stressed, and worn out. I will take full responsibility for my son. My apologies."

Tekka frowned. "Understood, sir."

"Come on, Itachi. Let's go back inside."

xxxx

"You ready?" Itachi asked evenly. He was wearing his ANBU uniform, his face hidden behind the mask.

"Oh, yes!" Tobi giggled. "This will be so much fun!"

Itachi ignored him; by now, he was used to Tobi's personality switches.

"You start at the north end of the compound. I'll start at the south side. And remember; the Clan Leader and his family are all mine."

Tobi clapped his hands together. "Yes, boss!" He saluted. "Good luck have fun!" He giggled one more time, then vanished.

Itachi closed his eyes. _This is for you, Konoha, Hokage-sama. And for you, Shishui. _

He grinned, a morbid, twisted smile, opening his eyes to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan. _And you're first, Yashiro. _

xxxx

Sasuke gasped for air, shooting across rooftops. He was so late!

Iruka had been pushing them especially hard today, and he'd lost track of time, staying after to help the others with water-walking, which Itachi had already shown him.

Mom would ignore him, and Fuguku would just shake his head and glare, but Itachi would be disappointed in him. Itachi always made a point to be on time.

The first sign that something was wrong was when Sasuke first entered the compound gates. Normally, the compound was bustling with noise, even this late at night. But everything was quiet. The wind blew towards him, ruffling his hair, and Sasuke stopped.

He had a really bad feeling.

He broke into a run, down the streets. The first body stopped him in his tracks. It was a middle-aged man, with dark hair and staring eyes. He was cleaved from hip to shoulder, the Uchiha symbol on his shirt divided neatly in two.

Sasuke felt horror washing over him, and he immediately vomited. Straightening up, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve, feeling his horror replaced by fear.

He'd felt the tension building up all week, especially in his house, to the point where Itachi and Fuguku were barely speaking to each other. It had been part of the reason why he hadn't really wanted to go home.

"Itachi! Nii-san!" He yelled, racing through the streets, his lone voice echoing strangely through the empty compound. . He rounded a corner, and skidded to a halt. There, sprawled in the street, lay his Aunt and Uncle. His Uncle had been a scornful, bitter old man that Sasuke hadn't liked much. His Aunt, though she never talked with him, would occasionally slip him a piece of candy and a brief smile when no one was looking.

Sasuke pushed the memories away, burying them back in his mind. He began to walk again, speeding into a run, as he raced for his house. "Kaa-san! Itachi!" He flung open the door, and came to a skidding halt.

"Nii-san." He sobbed in relief. Then jumped back when he noticed the slumping forms of his parents on the floor.

"Who did this?" He asked Itachi, a little hysterically.

Itachi turned, and Sasuke found himself lost in the red depths of his Sharingan, spinning and spinning until, suddenly, he was somewhere else entirely.

Sasuke found himself standing to the side of a familiar porch. The dark was night, and shadowy, as if insubstantial, and Sasuke recognized the feel of a genjutsu. When he lifted his arm, it was transparent, and he could see the stone path underneath. Itachi stood next to him, similarly transparent.

"Wha-" Sasuke started to ask, but was interrupted.

"Just watch. I will explain everything." Itachi disappeared, and Sasuke closed his mouth, returning to the scene. He pushed away the horror of his night so far, instead focusing on the porch in front of him. He would deal with everything else later.

A small boy, who Sasuke recognized as a younger Itachi, was holding a small baby in his arms. Sasuke realized with surprise that the baby in Itachi's arms was no other than Sasuke himself.

Suddenly an ANBU appeared, a man in his uniform, his white mask covering his face. His gaze alighted on the bundle in Itachi's arms. "Is that Uchiha Sasuke?" The guard asked.

Itachi held the bundle closer to his chest. "Yes. What do you want?" He asked evenly, so mature, even at such a young age.

"You must be Uchiha Itachi, then. I'm sorry son, but I have to take your younger brother for a few minutes. Hokage's orders." He held out a small roll of paper, at the bottom of which lay the Hokage's seal.

Itachi held Sasuke even closer, if that was possible. "I don't understand...but I'm sorry ANBU-san, I swore to my parents that I'd take care of my little brother. I can't do that if you take him."

"I see...I'm sorry about this, son." The ANBU moved like lightning, his fist leaping forward toward Itachi's temple. Itachi flinched back, but the ANBU was already gone, Sasuke with him.

The scene changed, into their dining room. Sasuke's parents, Itachi, and an ANBU sat at the table. Sasuke lay on the table, still wrapped in blankets.

The ANBU vanished, and Fuguku scowled. "I suppose we'll drop him off at the orphanage first thing tommorow. I won't raise a demon in my own house."

Mikoto looked at him in shock, but it was Itachi who spoke. "How can you say that? Weren't you listening to the ANBU? He's a hero, who's protecting us all! He's human, not the Kyuubi! Just because part of it was sealed in him doesn't make him a demon!"

Sasuke sat down, hard. He had thought that the scene before had looked dreary, almost corrupted. It must have been the night the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Suddenly all the glares in the Uchiha compound started to make sense.

Fuguku was eying Itachi, who took a deep breath. "It was my job to protect him, and I failed. Now he's the one protecting us. We can't just abandon him!"

"I agree." Mikoto said softly.

Fuguku studied them for a minute. "Very well." He said with a sigh. "But I am growing tired of all the burdens Konoha leaves on my doorstep."

The scene changed.

It was a clan meeting, all the Shinobi of the Uchiha clan gathered in the meeting hall.

Itachi was leaning against a wall, and Sasuke was standing beside him. This Itachi was solid, however, and made no responses to Sasuke's attempts to get his attention.

And so Sasuke was forced to sit and watch for thirty minutes, as the Uchiha came to the decision that perhaps Konoha would be better off if the Uchiha were in charge. He made a game of trying to find the subtle signs of emotion on Itachi's face. Brief flashes of anger, disgust and fury.

He watched as Shishui stood up and protested, the only one against the plan. The meeting sped by, almost like someone had hit fast forward, then paused again for certain sentences. And so Sasuke got the just of two meetings, each hours long, in perhaps thirty minutes.

The scene changed again, and Itachi and Shishui were skipping rocks down a slow-moving river.

"They're so dumb!" Shishui said, in rage, throwing a rock into the river. "I was always proud to be an Uchiha...but now I can scarcely believe I'm related to them." The rock made a large splash, immediately sinking.

Itachi calmly skipped his rock, counting eighteen skips before it finally sunk. "Konoha has been attacked or invaded more than any other ninja village since its founding." He said calmly. "None have ever succeeded in breaking it."

"Well duh! We've got the Aburame, who can drain attacker's chakra without even being in sight! And the Yamanaka, who can turn your own allies against you! And don't even get me started on the defensive capabilities of the Nara."

Itachi let out a small grin, before skipping another rock.

"Maybe I should go to Danzo-sama and tell him everything." Shishui sighed. "Might save a lot of lives."

"Perhaps you should."

Shishui sighed. "Well, I'm gonna head on over to the pep rally." He said bitterly. "You coming?"

"Maybe in a little while." Itachi said, skipping another rock.

The scene changed.

They were in the Hokage's office now, Itachi standing upright in front of the Hokage's desk. Three people stood off to the side. Two of them Sasuke recognized as the Hokage's advisors, but the third he didn't know. He was tall, looming over the other two, and Sasuke was immediately wary of him. The look in his eyes reminded him of Fuguku.

"Think carefully, Itachi. Are you sure you want to do this? I cannot, in good conscience, force you to take this mission."

"Hokage-sama-" The woman protested, but the Hokage cut her off.

"Silence! Last time I checked, _I _was Hokage. _I _will not force a ninja to kill his own family!" Sasuke could never remember seeing the Hokage look angry before.

The woman scowled, but shut her mouth.

"I wish to take the mission, Hokage-sama." Itachi said evenly.

"Are you absolutely certain?" The Hokage pressed.

"First, the Uchiha Clan threatened the village I love with war. A civil war, no less. Then they killed my best friend, and rubbed it in my face." Itachi glowered. "It's personal, now, Hokage-sama."

Sasuke gasped. It had been the clan who had killed Shishui? And what was this mission?

The Hokage sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Very well. I wish you the best of luck."

"One more thing, Hokage-sama." Itachi said. "I would like to go ahead and tell you that there will be a survivor of tonight's mission. My younger brother, Sasuke."

"Oh!" The Hokage sat forward. "I meant to ask you to spare him, anyway, but I forgot."

The male advisor looked confused. "Who-?" He broke off suddenly. "Oh, the...yes, I see."

"And I wished to impart some blackmail as well." Itachi continued evenly. "I expect you to take care of him, after I leave. It would be a shame if information leaked out...information that confirmed that the Hokage's advisors forced him into ordering the Uchiha Massacre."

Sasuke, if possible, became even more shocked. This explained everything. It had been Itachi who had killed the Uchiha, under orders from the Hokage, who's hand had been forced by his own advisors. It explained why he was the only one still alive in the compound.

"You need not worry yourself about that, Itachi." The Hokage promised. "We will, of course, take care of him."

_Because I'm Itachi's brother, or because I have part of the Kyuubi sealed inside me? _Sasuke wondered.

Itachi bowed, and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Itachi?" Itachi turned around, meeting the Hokage's grateful eyes.

"If, while in Akatsuki, getting information to us might put your own life at unnecessary risk, feel free to wait. You have done more than enough for us already. Despite your age, you have been one of my most talented Shinobi, Itachi, and I have been truly blessed to be your commander. Good luck, and thank you."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Itachi bowed one more time, then exited.

The scene vanished, and Sasuke felt panic start to set into his heart. That had sounded way too much like a good-bye. A permanent one.

Now, he stood somewhere new. It was a flat, dark gray plane that extended as far as the eye could see. The ground was black, and the light coming from above was a light grey, equally lighting the ground, removing all shadows.

Itachi appeared beside him, his face, to outward appearances, neutral. But Sasuke could see the anxiety there, hidden in his eyes.

Itachi liked to be in control. He liked to know all the pieces, and play them in a certain way so as to achieve a certain outcome. He liked to study his opponents, to know what they were going to do; before they even did it. So that when combat actually started, Itachi was already guaranteed victory. But Sasuke was a variable, someone he didn't quite understand, and he could never tell just what he would say.

Which is why he was surprised when, out of nowhere, Sasuke leapt at him, almost knocking him over in his crushing hug.

"So...they're all dead?" Sasuke mumbled, his face pressed against Itachi's stomach.

"Yes."

"And you're leaving?" Sasuke asked his voice cracking, tears leaking out of his eyes to soak Itachi's shirt.

"Yes. And as much as I would like to, I can't take you with me." He said gently.

Itachi expected Sasuke to cry, or to get angry, or protest, but he didn't. He merely wiped his sleeve across his eyes, and stepped back, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"How long does this genjutsu last?" He asked, sniffling a little.

"Three days." Itachi responded. "It's my last gift to you, before I leave. Seventy-two hours without need for food or sleep. What do you want to do?"

"You said I need to get strong to protect myself and my friends." Sasuke said, meeting Itachi's eyes. "Train me. Teach me."

Itachi felt a small smile grow on his face. "Very well. What first?"

Sasuke looked down, thinking, then looked back up. "Who's Akatsuki?"

xxxx

When Sasuke came to, blinking his eyes against the light, Itachi was standing up, checking his pockets. He kneeled down, and gave his brother one last hug.

"Goodbye, Sasuke. Someday, perhaps sooner than you think, I'll see you again. Perhaps then, we'll fight alongside each other. Make sure you get strong enough to fight beside me as an equal, okay?" He said, his tone lightly joking.

Sasuke stepped back, grinning fiercely at Itachi. "Don't you worry about that. Just make sure _you _keep up with _me._"

Itachi smiled too, and then he was gone.

xxxx

Tobi giggled, skipping ahead. "That was so much fun! Tobi hasn't had that much fun in..." He stopped in his tracks, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Finally, his face cleared, and he exclaimed, "A really, really long time!"

Itachi barely paid him any attention, too buried in his own thoughts. _Now, all I need to do is survive. While being part of the most dangerous, most deadly, collection of missing-nin in the history of the ninja villages. All the while betraying them behind their backs. Perfect. _

"It's kind of fitting, don't you think?" Tobi asked, walking backwards. "Once upon a time the ninja world was practically ruled by four great clans; the Hyuuga, the Uchiha, the Uzumaki and the Senju. All four directly descended from the two sons of the Sage of the Six Paths."

He held up four fingers. "The Senju have died out to the point where only a few descendants remain." He lowered one finger.

"The Uzumaki were set upon by two mighty armies and destroyed, the remnants of their clan scattered across the continent." Another finger.

"The Hyuuga have ruined themselves from the inside; to the point where only a select few have the resources to become anything more than a specialized telescope." Tobi laughed.

"And finally, the Uchiha clan." He said, his final finger falling, forming a clenched fist. "Annihilated to the point where only the few most talented Uchiha remain."

"It's so poetic!" He exclaimed, clasping his hands together, his eyes wide and pleading. "Don't you think so, Boss?"

xxxx

"Look, it's the Last Uchiha!" The woman didn't even try to keep her voice down. _Does she think I'm deaf?_ Sasuke wondered, walking the streets on his way to school the following morning.

"Yeah, but he's also, you know, _that._"

Sasuke clenched his fists.

"I know, but I can't help feeling sorry for him."

"I can...it might've even been the demon that drove his brother mad."

"Yeah...I don't know...he looks so lonely though."

"Who cares? Can you imagine, having a demon and a homicidal maniac for children? Poor parents."

Sasuke snarled, suddenly feeling an intense itch in his nail beds, his gums, and his scalp. But he didn't care anymore, buried in hatred. These idiots, they didn't know anything! He wasn't a monster, and Itachi had probably saved their miserable lives!

His vision started to turn red, he was so mad. He had the sudden, unconquerable urge to hurt them, to rip them into pieces with his bare hands. He took a step toward them, but was halted by a quiet, firm voice.

"Enough." The voice was quiet, smooth, and young, but somehow it immediately snapped Sasuke out of his anger, the itch fading, his vision clearing.

He turned, to see the most unpredictable of his classmates, Naruto, standing on a roof above him. "Did you think I wouldn't smell it?" Naruto asked, confusing Sasuke. "Don't give into your anger, you'll just be proving them right." He said, gesturing to the women on the other side of the street, who were still chatting away, oblivious.

Sasuke stared hard. Naruto was the most confusing of his classmates. He always stayed right in the middle of the class, getting 5th in just about everything. He won what seemed like exactly every other spar, and scored 5th in the projectiles class. But he never seemed to really have to try at anything, doing everything with an ease that came with practice. And even though he was in the middle of the class in terms of rank, he seemed to find it easy to help the others when they struggled. Which was a lot.

None of their other classmates seemed to find this strange...or perhaps they just didn't care.

And another thing Sasuke had noticed: Naruto never talked about himself. He would laugh and joke, and be outgoing to the point where, if you didn't think about it, you thought you knew him really well. But, in reality, Sasuke realized, he didn't know anything about Naruto.

"Yeah. Thanks, I don't know what came over me." Sasuke said honestly.

"You don't?" Naruto asked, looking abruptly startled and confused.

What the heck did that mean? Sasuke shook his head; he didn't have time to puzzle over Naruto right now. "Come on, we better get going or we'll be late."

"Yeah." Naruto said, falling into step with him. Naruto stayed uncharacteristically quiet the entire way to school.

When they reached the Academy doors, Sasuke finally couldn't stand it anymore. "What's up?" He asked the blonde. "You seem unusually quiet."

Naruto started, as if brought out of a trance, and turned to smile at Sasuke. "Oh, sorry. I guess I've just got a lot on my mind." He said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Hn."

When they entered the classroom, it was empty, not even Iruka was there yet. Naruto sat next to him, while Sasuke sat in his usual seat at the end of the row.

"Oh, and just so you know." Naruto said, Sasuke turning his gaze to look at him. "You may have lost your other family...but we'll always be your family, Sasuke. We're not going anywhere." He said, smiling slightly.

"Thanks." Sasuke said, somewhat surprised.

The others began to file in, Ino and Sakura first, each messing up Sasuke's hair as they passed. Chouji and Shikamaru came in next. Shikamaru nodded gravely to Sasuke, that one nod conveying all his sympathy. Chouji laid a bag of chips on Sasuke's desk, before moving across to sit next to Shikamaru.

Hinata came in next, and she gave him a small smile, laying a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. Then she caught Naruto looking at her, squeaked, blushed, and hurried to sit down, causing Sasuke to actually smile.

Shino came in next, and he seemed to deliberate with himself for a moment, before walking up to Sasuke. "My condolences on your loss." He said stiffly, before moving to sit down.

Kiba came in last, gasping for breath. "Whew, I'm not late." He looked up, and caught Sasuke's eyes, and started in surprise. He seemed to struggle for words, before Akamaru leaped up onto his desk, giving Sasuke a quick lick on the cheek. Sasuke spluttered, waving his hands and leaning away, causing everyone to laugh.

"I don't know what to say but..." Kiba grinned. "I can give you a lick too, if you want."

Sasuke grinned back fiercely. "Try it, and I'll kill you." The rest of the class laughed again, and Kiba moved to sit down.

Finally, the door banged open, and Iruka strode in, uncharacteristically late. He didn't look up, or speak to them, immediately striding towards the back of the room, throwing his briefcase down on a desk still pushed up against the wall.

He grabbed a marker, and started writing on the board that sat on the back wall.

_**Quick Thinking and Decision Making **_He wrote, in his quick and efficient script.

After a second's deliberation, Naruto stood up, placing his chair on the table. Then he raced around the side of the table. The others scrambled to their feet, following immediately. In a few seconds, they were all sitting on the other side of the table, facing the back of the room.

Iruka turned, a small smile on his face.

"On a mission, things do not always go as planned. Your mission info might be false, or the person you're supposed to be protecting might suddenly turn and pull a knife on you. In these situations, it's important that you think quickly and nimbly. Was the mission info sabotaged, meaning you're walking into a trap...or has the situation just changed? Is the man you're protecting under a genjutsu, or is he an enemy in disguise?"

"In these situations, it is important to be able to think quickly, and make on-the-spot decisions. If you stand there, and blink stupidly, you'll get killed. It's that simple."

"Don't sit there stupidly in your chair, facing the front, waiting for the lesson to start: the ninja world changes at the drop of a hat. Sometimes things happen. Keep your mind open, go with the flow, and move on."

xxxx

Itachi felt the eyes of the Snake Sannin on his back the entire way up the path.

Orochimaru grinned. The famed Sharingan, right in front of him. A snake slipped out of his robes-

"Don't even think about it." Itachi said, turning to face him, his eyes red.

"Why not?" Orochimaru licked his lips.

"Because I'll kill you."

Orochimaru felt cold steel against his neck, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see another Itachi standing behind him.

"You really think you can kill me, Itachi-kun?" Orochimaru purred.

"I do." The Itachi in front of him said. "But why waste a potential ally? I'll strike a deal with you, Orochimaru-sama."

"How interesting." Orochimaru licked his lips again. "What kind of deal?"

"My younger brother, Sasuke, is the only other surviving Uchiha. He is also one of the demons we are hunting. Help me bring down Konoha, and kill that demon brother of mine, and I'll give you his eyes."

"Ku ku ku." Orochimaru cackled. "You're a very interesting child. Bring down Konoha, you say? I was planning my own revenge on Sarutobi...this would be, I suppose you could say, killing two birds with one stone."

Itachi remained impassive, showing no reaction.

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed. "Very well, I accept. Akatsuki's resources will certainly prove useful. I look forward to working with you, Itachi-kun." He purred.

He withdrew the snake into his robes, and walked around Itachi, continuing up the stairs.

Or so he thought. Just as he reached the top, he found himself back down on the platform where he had been talking with Itachi.

Itachi was gone.

Orochimaru's eyes widened, and he realized that he'd been in a genjutsu all along.

He grinned, feeling a rush of excitement. Perhaps Itachi really could kill him, after all.

xxxx

**A/N**

Holy crap Tobi is a fun character. What a boss!

A lot happened this chapter, and I'm really anxious to see what you thought, so if you could take a minute out of your time and review, I'd really appreciate it.

And love you forever.

No big deal, though.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N **

If you enjoy this story, but are too lazy to review, I'd like you to take a second and give a round of applause for not only the people who have reviewed, but especially to the people who have reviewed multiple times:

Shadowman 747, Alec Mcdowell, RamenKnight, nekomato, and any I might have missed while rushing this author's note before I publish.

To all my reviewers; I may not respond to every review like some authors, in fact I only respond to a few, but I still read every single one, and I'm always excited when I get another **Review Alert** email.

Seriously, you're awesome.

**Chapter 6**

Hinata looked curiously from Iruka-sensei to the mysterious woman standing to the side of his desk.

Was Iruka-sensei blushing? Was this the same Iruka who threw a kunai if they talked while he was talking? The same Iruka who made them run laps if they missed a bull's eye?

He certainly didn't look stern or dangerous, now.

Iruka cleared his throat after the bell rang. "Umm...so we have a guest teacher today. I would introduce her to you...but perhaps it's better if I let her introduce herself."

He nodded at her, and she smiled.

She was undeniably gorgeous, Hinata decided. She had dark red hair, which was pulled up in a simple ponytail behind her and fell down below her shoulder blades. She had a thin jacket on, dark blue, with the a dark red whirlpool symbol on the front. She wore black pants, which ended at her ankles, and she was wearing a simple pair of ninja sandals.

"My name is Uzumaki Kushina." She told them.

Kiba gasped, and several heads turned to stare at Naruto.

Kushina smiled. "And yes, as you may have guessed, Naruto is my son."

It made sense, Hinata decided. She was had an easy, warm smile, and she had the same air of confidence about her, as if she had everything under control.

_And they're both beautiful. _Hinata thought, staring at her lap, a smile on her face, trying to hide her blush.

"I would tell you why I'm here...but I think perhaps it better if we relocate first." The woman continued.

Iruka cleared his throat. "Ah...yes. I have to grade some papers and stuff...so I'll see you all after lunch." He told them, pulling a folder towards him.

Kushina smiled. "Alright, follow me."

They hurried to their feet, immediately following after Kushina, who immediately set the pace at a jog, running along behind the school, her hair swinging back and forth.

The kids ran after her, surprising Kushina with how quiet they were; they didn't ask her a single question the entire way. Perhaps Iruka really was as much of a hardass as Naruto made him out to be. She had found it hard to believe of the normally kind-hearted man.

Kushina didn't even slow down as they entered the tunnels of the Hokage Mountain, grabbing a torch off the wall on her way, without breaking stride. The path was smooth, made of a soft dirt that was cool enough to be felt through her sandals. It was surprisingly dry, considering the moisture that could be easily seen coating the walls.

They traveled deeper into the mountain, and Hinata was very glad that she was wearing a jacket; the temperature was definitely cooling off. It wasn't cold...but it definitely wasn't warm, either.

Finally, they came to what appeared to be a dead end, the ceiling dropping and the walls closing in. Kushina reached out, and touched her palm to the wall, causing an intricate seal to glow to life. The wall slid aside, as if on a smooth track, and they entered. Kushina waited for them all to pass, then touched a seal on the inside, and the door slid shut behind them. Kushina focused on her hand, and a black, intricate seal appeared on the door, fading before Hinata could catch a good glance.

Looking around, she found herself in a large cavern at least twice the size of their classroom. Torches were mounted on every wall, bathing the room in an orange, flickering light. The ceiling was probably two stories high, and revealed some short stalactites hanging down from above, glinting in the torchlight.

Kushina stripped off her jacket, revealing a tight black tank top that would've had Iruka blushing for sure. She reached into one of the pockets, pulling out a scroll, and tossed the jacket to the side.

She turned to them, a serious look on her face. "Today, I will be sharing quite a bit of confidential information with you. Some of what I tell you, you will be able to share. But other bits, I must ask you to share with no one, not even your families."

She smiled. "I will tell you which is which. Now I need you to sign this scroll, signifying your promise to secrecy. Some of what I will be telling you will be S-class secrets...and I doubt I need to tell you the consequences of breaking the confidentiality of such secrets." She passed around the scroll.

As Hinata handed the scroll to Kiba, he looked up and asked. "What's our other option?" He asked curiously.

"Other option?" Kushina asked.

"If we don't want to sign the scroll." Kiba clarified.

"You don't have another option." Kushina told him.

He raised his eyebrows, but signed his name under Hinata's without further comment.

Kushina took the scroll from Naruto, who had been the last to sign, and chucked it over to where her jacket lay on the ground. Then she sat, crossing her legs, and put her clasped hands in her lap, her back perfectly straight.

They followed suit, sitting in a semi-circle in front of her.

"You Nine are very special." Kushina started. "I'm sure the glares of the villagers" her voice was bitter, "And the size of your class have already told you that. You Nine are different from everyone else. Well, me too, really." She said, smiling.

"It all started with one man. The Yondaime Hokage. Several of the things that you've heard about the Fourth have been, quite frankly, lies. You have been told that he was a bachelor, a man who gave his life to kill the Kyuubi that attacked seven years ago."

"That's all bullshit." Several of the kids smiled, and Naruto realized with amusement how easily his mother had gained the liking and trust of his classmates.

"Let's start small and work our way up to the most important things. The first thing that I will share with you cannot, under any circumstances, leave this room. And that is that the Yondaime did, in fact, secretly have a wife. Me."

All but Shikamaru and Sakura turned to stare at Naruto. Kiba gaped. "So that means that Naruto..."

"Is the son of the Fourth, yes." Kushina confirmed.

"Honestly, I can't believe you guys are surprised. It was so obvious to me." Sakura said.

"The first time I saw Naruto, I turned to look at the Yondaime's head on the mountain." Shikamaru agreed. "I guessed, way back then, who he was."

Hinata had always heard that the Fourth had been quite the ladies man, with a ton of rabid fangirls following him around would they could.

She stared at Naruto. _I can see why_ she thought, before blushing and looking down.

Kiba closed his mouth. "Huh. I guess you're right. Maybe I am just as clueless as everyone says."

"I don't think I've ever heard anyone call you clueless, Kiba." Ino told him frankly.

"Oh...I guess you're right." Kiba grinned.

"Anyway..." Kushina said, a bemused smile on her face.

"The second lie you have been told, is that the Kyuubi attacked Konoha like some sort of sudden Natural Disaster. The truth is, I held the Kyuubi locked inside me, in a very special kind of seal." The children didn't gasp, or show any signs of shock other than the widening of their eyes, as they stayed silent for the story.

"This seal only had one weakness: childbirth. The night I gave birth to Naruto, in a secluded, protected cave, a masked man came. He broke through our barrier like it wasn't even there, and killed all the ANBU on the scene. He distracted the Fourth, then managed to release the Kyuubi from my seal."

"The third lie you were fed was that the Kyuubi died that night, killed by the Fourth. The truth is that a Bijuu, one of the tailed beasts, cannot be killed. They are simply giant masses of Chakra, that would reform eventually if dispersed. Instead, the Fourth broke up the Kyuubi, and sealed it into nine different infants." She stayed silent for a moment, letting that sink in.

"Wait a second..." Sakura said. "You're saying...those nine children were us?"

"Lift up your shirts, and channel chakra to your feet." Kushina instructed, pulling her tank top up to reveal a lightly tanned, well-toned abdomen. Slowly, a faded gray seal revealed itself, spiraling itself into existence.

They each followed suit, and found to much of their surprise, that each of them had ink-black seals on their stomachs.

"I can't believe I never noticed that before." Sakura said in shock.

"Do you make a habit of walking around your house, channeling chakra, without a shirt on?" Kushina teased.

Sakura blushed. "No...I guess not."

"Then I'm not surprised you've never seen it before." Kushina said, smiling.

"We...have the Kyuubi...sealed in us?" Chouji asked in shock, staring down at his round stomach.

"Ever wondered why Chakra Control is so hard for you?"

Chouji furrowed his brows. The others stared vacantly at her, and Kushina threw up her hands.

She turned to Hinata. "Hinata, right?" Hinata nodded nervously. "Your clan's style of taijutsu uses small, thin, spikes of chakra, right?"

Hinata nodded.

"Ever been able to make one?" Kushina asked.

Hinata shook her head, beginning to blush in embarrassment.

"I should think not." Kushina said, causing Hinata to stare at her in surprise. "None of us could. We simply have far too much chakra for doing anything intricate with it."

She grinned. "Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams, if any of you were planning on becoming puppet masters."

They all grinned too, shaking their heads.

"So on the downside, you can't become puppet masters or precise taijutsu experts who disable opponents by blocking their chakra systems with sharp spikes of chakra."

She grinned. "But on the upside, if you have the affinity for it, you get to use huge, badass, elemental ninjutsu. And you have endurance on a scale that most ninja couldn't even imagine." She smiled again, and winked at Hinata. "I think you've got the better end of the deal."

She turned again to Kiba. "If you want more proof, you'll get it later."

"Now on for the last, and perhaps most important falsehood. My husband did not die sealing the Kyuubi into you young rascals. After sealing the Kyuubi into you all, he fought again with the mysterious masked man who forced the Kyuubi into attacking Konoha earlier that night. Retreating was always an option for the Yellow Flash, so it is my belief that Minato would only sacrifice himself for one reason."

She looked at them all seriously. "And that is because he believed that if he did not kill that man then and there, then the masked man would return and destroy Konoha at a later date."

"I happen to know the jutsu my husband used, the one that killed him, and it is one that takes both the user's life and the target's. However, the masked man's body was never found, and it is my belief that he is still alive."

"So...you think someday that masked man will return, and destroy Konoha?" Ino asked, her eyes wide.

"I believe that he will come after Konoha again, yes. Or, more specifically, you nine."

"Us?" Shikamaru asked.

"Recently, a certain group has formed. They are comprised exclusively of S-class missing-nin, and their roster includes some of the most deadly ninja in current history. It is my belief that this masked man is behind this group, which is named Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki's aim is to capture and control the nine tailed beasts for their own purposes. As of now, those purposes are unknown. What we do know, however, is that the process of extracting a Bijuu from its host kills the human host."

"So basically, what you're saying is, when Akatsuki comes for us, they'll rip Konoha apart and kill us. Great." Shikamaru dropped his head in his hands.

"Hopefully not." Kushina said. "I prefer to think that my husband either overestimated the masked man he was fighting, which isn't likely, given the outcome of the fight. Or, more likely, he underestimated the potential that you nine currently have."

"Underestimated _our_ potential?" Sakura asked.

"I think Minato expected you to have a normal upbringing. To be normal academy students, with normal classes. I don't think that in a thousand years he would've expected you to be shunned like you were. However much of a genius my husband may have been, he was still human. And one of his faults was the inability to see the darker side of the people of Konoha."

"Minato would've expected you to grow up normal, or to have a life where you were celebrated as a hero. Instead, each of you has had a hard, difficult life. And each of you, for different reasons, have been gifted with a fierce determination to become powerful shinobi."

"Akatsuki is slow-moving. Several of their members are ancient, some of them do not age. They are patient, and it is my belief that they won't truly begin their plans for some years to come. In that time, the Hokage and I plan to train you to the point where you will be strong enough shinobi to resist them."

"And that training starts today. Naruto will be teaching you how to find the Kyuubi, locked away in your mind. It is the first step to learning how to use the Kyuubi's chakra for combat."

"Naruto's teaching us?" Ino asked in shock.

"Yes, he's been able to contact the Kyuubi for some time now." Kushina told her.

"Just do what I say, and this'll be a piece of cake." Naruto told them.

"I find it easier to cross my legs, and put my hands in my lap." He told them, doing just that. They followed, somewhat hesitantly. "Sit up straight, and breath in, breath out." He told them, his voice soft and smooth. "In...out."

"Feel your heartbeat slow...your breathing even out. You're no longer in this cave; you don't feel anything, you don't smell anything."

His calm, soothing voice washed over them, and Hinata found that she could no longer feel the floor she was sitting on.

"You're standing somewhere else now. Reach back, into the depths of your mind. Picture a long hallway, it's dark, with a single torch on the wall."

Hinata, even though her eyes were closed, could see it, the torch flickering in an otherwise pitch black hallway.

"You're standing now, walking slowly towards the gate. You feel the cold stone underneath your feet, the sound of your footsteps echoing down the hallway. As you approach the torch, you notice something you didn't notice before. It's a gate that goes from floor to ceiling. It's a soft copper, glinting softly in the torchlight. Reach out, grab the smooth handle, and open the gate."

xxxx

"Hellooooo? Guys, wake up!"

As if that command flipped a switch, they opened their eyes, blinking, to see Naruto standing above them, grinning.

"I can honestly say I wasn't expecting to see you all here."

Here, Hinata found, was a giant courtyard. In the middle, a large bowl sat, and Hinata could see that it used to be a fountain. Half of it was skewed, and it was crumbling, falling apart. The courtyard was all stone path, made of a sort of gray brick, covered in dust and dirt. Walls on the side rose up and up and up, as high as the Hokage Tower. They were gray too, covered in long cracks that rose from floor to ceiling in certain places.

In the distance, Hinata could see another huge gate, which spread from wall to wall, ceiling to floor. From here, it was covered in shadow, and she couldn't make out anything inside.

"This place is a lot nicer than it was the last time I was here." Naruto said, craning his neck to look around.

Sakura stared with obvious distaste at the crumbling walls, and the dusty gray path. "This is nice? What was it the last time you were here, a sewer?"

"Yes, actually." Naruto said, still looking around. "It's a lot bigger too. Well, come on. Let's go see Fuzzball."

The others followed after him, still disbelieving, staring at the huge ceiling up above. Shikamaru thought he could almost make out a lightning bolt on the ceiling.

As they got closer, the gates seemed even bigger than they had before. A huge seal was nestled in the center, locking the gates closed.

"Hey Fuzzball! You in there?" Naruto called.

Nine pairs of red circles in the darkness. A fierce wind, and a dark, oppressive atmosphere was cast over the group. Then the circles closed again and the wind vanished.

"Oh, wow. It's a bunch of different Fuzzballs!" Naruto said, laughing.

Two eyes flash, a deep, powerful voice echoes from the back, "**Call me that ridiculous nickname one more time, mortal, and I'll-"**

"I've already told you that I refuse to call you 'Nine-tails'; it sounds stupid." Naruto interrupted.

"What's his name, then?" Sakura asked curiously.

Naruto froze, and nine pairs of red eyes gleamed in the darkness. Suddenly they leaped forward, and they were granted their first sight of the occupants of the giant cage.

In the middle, a giant, red-orange fox, his eyes burning. He was the tallest, easily four stories tall, and from head to tails he was as long as the Academy itself.

There was another, perhaps a third its size, immediately to its left. On its right, there was an even smaller fox, perhaps as tall as an elephant. The other five were the smallest, all of them about as tall as a rhino, each of their tails as long as their bodies.

_**"Why would you want to know my name, mortal?" **_The voices echoed around the chamber, almost knocking them over backwards. The eyes burned with distrust and anger.

Naruto tapped his chin in thought. "I didn't realize you had a name. You know...we could give you a different nickname instead, like Bob."

**No.**

"Or Jim." Kiba added.

**Definitely not.**

"Maybe Fuzzy Wuzzy?" Chouji asked innocently.

**Enough! I will tell you my name, mortals, if only to keep you from giving me such a ridiculous nickname. My name is Kurama. **

"Hullo, Kurama." Naruto said. "You know if you'd just told me this in the first place, you could've saved yourself a lot of trouble."

The Foxes stared down at him, but said nothing.

"Who's got the big one?" Chouji asked curiously.

**Isn't it obvious? **The largest one asked rhetorically, turning around and disappearing into the shadows.

Chouji turned to look at Naruto. "I suppose so..."

xxxx

_Two weeks later_

Iruka sat on his desk again, looking at them all, Kushina standing off to the left.

"I can honestly say, that with exception to the Clone jutsu, that you guys could run circles around the seventh-year students. No matter how tough I've acted, you've completely blown my expectations out of the water. So thank you for that."

"Skill-wise, you all could easily become genin today." Kushina continued. "However, the Hokage and I agree that might not be the best path for you."

"Why not, Kushina-sensei?" Sakura asked curiously.

A knock sounded at the door.

Kushina smiled, while Iruka went to open the door. "I'll just let him explain it to you."

Iruka opened the door, and the Hokage entered, taking off his hat as he did so.

"Hokage-sama!" The kids shot to their feet, bowing.

The Hokage smiled, itching his scalp. "Good morning."

He sat his hat down on Iruka's desk, and remained standing, turning to Kushina. "How much have you told them?"

"I just told them that you would explain why we didn't want them becoming genin just yet."

"Ah, yes. Well, the truth is, you're too valuable to be sent out on missions right now. The missions with the highest mortality rates are not, as you might expect, S-rank missions. In fact, the missions with the highest mortality rates are C-rank missions involving inexperienced genin. And, quite frankly, you all have too much potential to risk losing you early."

"And too much potential to be out walking dogs or fetching cats, either." Kushina said.

The Hokage looked at her for a moment, then agreed. "Indeed."

"The thing is," The Hokage continued, "quite frankly, Iruka is running out of things to teach you. Which means we'll have to bring in some more...specialized teachers. I'd like to introduce them to you now. Your first teacher is a jounin known world-wide for his mastery of over a thousand ninjutsu. Kakashi, if you would come in please?"

Kakashi entered, in his standard Flak jacket and dark blue pants, his visible eye closed in a smile. "Hello. I'll be your Ninjutsu teacher." He said, then pulled out his orange book, and started reading.

Kushina and the Hokage both rolled their eyes, and the Hokage cleared his throat. "Your next teacher is a Chunin, and a very adept Genjutsu user. When you're ready, Kurenai."

A woman faded into existence in front of them, her white dress only serving to make her blood-red eyes and raven black hair stand out even more. "Even though the Hokage has informed me that you all have too much chakra for the subtleties of genjutsu, I will still be teaching you all about them. And, more importantly, how to recognize and dispel illusions." She stepped back.

"Your next instructor is my own son, and he is a lazy jounin who enjoys strategy board games too much for his own good."

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Shikamaru sit up straighter.

Asuma entered, scratching his beard. "Hello. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I will be your strategy and battlefield tactics teacher."

"The last man was, until recently, the leader of my own personal ANBU. He has decided to retire, and will now be teaching you instead. Come in, Wolf."

A man slinked in, his movements as graceful as a leopard, as if he were ready to leap into action at any second. He had long, wavy brown hair that cascaded back to his shoulders. His face was firmly hidden behind an ANBU mask, with a wolf face on the front. Two razor-sharp blue eyes gleamed out at them from the holes in the mask.

"Good morning." The man's voice was deep, but silky smooth. "I'm Wolf, and I'll be your taijutsu teacher."

"And I, of course, will be teaching you how to further control and refine your use of the Kyuubi's chakra." Kushina said.

"Some days you may be working alone with an instructor. Other days you will be working with a random teammate. Every day, you will begin the morning with endurance training, here. Then you will go off to your respective instructors, and return here at 3 p.m." Iruka told them. "Where you will have projectiles class with me."

"But, Sensei...doesn't the Academy get out at 2:45?" Sakura asked.

"And?" Iruka asked, his eyes unyielding.

After a pause, the Hokage spoke. "The last thing is for you all to come up with a Team name. Normally we name a team after it's sensei, but that's not really an option here. Take a moment and decide, I'm getting tired of calling you Iruka's class."

The group huddled together, whispering different names, till Naruto's quiet voice cut across the other's. They all nodded, and turned to face the Hokage, grinning.

"What's it to be?" The Hokage asked.

"We're Team Nine."

The Hokage smiled. "Team Nine it is. I don't think I need to tell you how many resources I am spending on training Team Nine. Don't let me down."

He swept from the room, replacing his hat as he went.

"Right." Wolf spoke, his voice cutting across the classroom like a whip. "Naruto, Shino, you're with me." He walked briskly from the room, and Naruto and Shino scrambled out of their chairs, dashing after him.

"Sakura, Ino." Kurenai called, walking out of the room, followed quickly by the two girls.

"Sasuke, you're with me." Kakashi said, without looking up from his book. "Meet me on the roof." There was a swirl of wind, and he was gone, leaving Sasuke to race for the stairs.

"Chouji, Shikamaru." Asuma called, turning to leave at a much more sedate pace than the others. Shikamaru and Chouji walked calmly after him, already decided on their favorite sensei.

"Hinata." Kushina smiled. "You're with me." She walked away briskly, her ponytail swinging back and forth.

Hinata scurried after her quickly, trying to bury her nervousness at the prospect of spending a day alone with the older Kunoichi.

xxxx

Wolf finally stopped, way above Konoha in a secluded training area Naruto had never heard of.

The climb up the mountain had been intense, and Naruto's legs were already burning, and the day had yet to even start. Shino, of course, was as impassive as always.

"Listen up!" Wolf barked, cutting through Naruto's thoughts. "I don't say things twice."

His tanned arms reached up, removing his white mask. The first thing Naruto saw were the scars. There were four of them, in a line across his face like claw marks, passing just around his left eye. The second thing he noticed was the heavy-set face, the thick eyebrows glaring at him over his piercing blue eyes. His face was white, a sharp contrast to his tanned arms, a clear sign of how many years he had worn his ANBU mask.

He grinned, his teeth white, and two long, sharp canines were revealed. He replaced his mask.

"I was born a member of the Inuzuka clan. I was thrown out, and refused a ninken partner, for reasons that you don't need to know."

"Your father, Naruto, found me on the street when he was a young jounin, not yet famous as the Yellow Flash. He pulled some strings with some friends of his, and got me into training to become an ANBU. I threw myself into my training, shoving aside my old identity and reviving myself as Wolf. I trained with a single-minded determination, until the day when I became ANBU commander, serving directly under the Fourth himself."

He cleared his throat. "The important part of this information, is that I stole an Inuzuka scroll, and studied their form of Taijutsu. I threw myself into it, and changed it into a style that can be used for a Lone Wolf." Naruto couldn't see his grin, but he knew it was there. "That is, a single person making deadly use of long claws, as opposed to the two that work together in the Inuzuka style."

He took a deep breath, and made a hand sign, and as they watched his nails grew into a set of long, thick claws.

"I understand that when you channel the Kyuubi's chakra, you gain your own set of claws?" he asked.

Naruto nodded, and closed his eyes. He could access the Kyuubi's chakra more easily than any of the rest, so far. When he opened his eyes, they were a sharp red, in startling contrast to the blue that had been there moments before. His face grimaced in a scowl as his canines grew into a set of long fangs, the whisker marks on his cheeks deepening, and he waved his growing set of claws.

"Alright, you can stop." Wolf told him, and Naruto closed his eyes, opening them again to reveal his blue eyes, his claws and fangs receding, his whisker marks fading.

"And I understand that using the Kyuubi's chakra causes damage?" Wolf asked.

"If we use too much of it or channel it for too long, then yes, the Kyuubi's chakra can cause damage to our system." Shino said.

"I see." Wolf said. "Then we won't use it for training. We'll train in the style without claws, and once we get far enough we'll use a set of metal ones."

He eyed them, his fierce blue eyes cutting across them from behind his mask.

"Alright, let's see what you can do."

xxxx

"Wow. That was tough!" Sakura said, gasping for breath, Ino doing the same beside her.

Kurenai smiled. "That was my weakest genjutsu. As you can tell, breaking a genjutsu may sound easy in principle, but in practice, breaking illusions is a lot tougher than it sounds."

"How do we get better, Sensei?"

Kurenai smiled again, but this time there was something almost predatory in it. "Practice."

xxxx

They sat on a cliff, overlooking Konoha. Below them, they could see the entire village laid out before them, bustling with activity, the crowded streets packed with people.

"Tell me what you see." Asuma said, his feet dangling over the edge.

Shikamaru frowned, staring down at the crowded streets, trying to make sense of the loaded question. "Chaos." Chouji answered, echoing Shikamaru's very thoughts.

Asuma frowned. "Today's lesson will be looking underneath the underneath. It is very important for a shinobi to be able to glean information about more than what is just being presented on the surface. A true shinobi, a true strategist, can take one look at a battlefield, one look at a town, and learn more about that place than a normal man would in a year."

xxxx

"Great Job today, Hinata." Kushina said warmly, walking along the path back towards the village. Hinata blushed, poking her fingers together, looking down on the ground.

"I'm jealous, you know." She added. Hinata stared at her in surprise.

"It took me years to learn what you all have learned in just a few days." Kushina explained. Suddenly her expression seemed to sour, and Hinata took a step back. "Straighten up, Hinata."

Hinata did so, staring at her in surprise. She looked down for a moment, but Kushina's voice snapped her head back up. "And lift that chin. Do you have something to be ashamed of, Hinata?"

Hinata wanted to say that yes, there was several things she was ashamed of. But something told her that would be the wrong answer. So she shook her head, and stuttered, "N-No."

"You're right, you don't." Kushina's voice was suddenly soft, warm. "You're one of the most talented Academy students Konoha's ever seen, Hinata. Remember that."

"And-" She continued, her voice sharp again. "If I see you looking at the ground again, you'll be staying after class with me, doing push-ups until you no longer feel inferior. Understand?"

Hinata stammered out a yes.

"Good. And keep up, walk alongside me, not behind me. I don't want to see any more submissive crap out of you, Hinata."

"Y-yes, Sensei!"

xxxx

Sarutobi spent a few minutes watching the different instructors from his crystal ball. He smiled.

Then he stood up, looking out over Konoha from the top floor of the Hokage's Tower.

_Before I can turn around good, I'll be putting you in random groups of three, and sending you out on C-rank missions with one of your sensei. _

A smile settled on his face. _I look forward to it, Team Nine. _

xxxx

Kakashi watched as Sasuke performed one of his signature fireball jutsu.

"Hmmm. Well, the first thing we need to work on is your chakra control."

"More chakra control?" Sasuke asked. "Why?"

"Because right now you're being incredibly inefficient; using way more chakra than you have to." Kakashi said.

Sasuke waited, but when Kakashi didn't continue, he prodded. "How do I fix it, then?"

Kakashi's eye closed in a smile. "A lot of hard work."

Sasuke grinned fiercely. "Now that I can do."

_Don't worry, Nii-san. _Sasuke thought, _I'll get strong; we'll all get strong. And when Akatsuki comes for us...we'll be ready._

xxxx

**A/N**

And so ends part one! Yayyyy no more worrying about really young kids and their dialogue!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

Sorry, Language. Tayuya's like that.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 7**

**Naruto- 13 years old**

"What are we doing?" Sakura whispered to Hinata, her hand in front of her mouth.

"Following Naruto." Hinata answered simply, shrugging. It's not like this was anything new.

Team Nine reached the top of the cliff, the Yondaime's head some 100 yards off to their right. Far below them there was a lake, shimmering in the sun. The midday sun beat down upon them, but the wind up here was cool, strong, blowing Hinata's long hair to the side.

Naruto turned around to face them, his eyes alight, and a daring grin on his face. He wasn't breathing hard from the climb; none of them were. It must be something to do with Iruka's hellish endurance training, Hinata supposed.

"Do you guys trust me?" He asked, grinning.

The others exchanged looks. Naruto always asked them that before they did something life-threatening.

Hinata looked around, and when no one else said anything, she found herself answering for all of them. "Against all reason."

Naruto grinned at her, and she was forced to look away, a light blush on her cheeks.

"Give me about thirty seconds to get down there, then follow me, preferably one at a time." He told them.

Then he turned around, a huge grin on his face, eyes alight, and took three running steps, launching himself out into midair. He did a back flip, and disappeared out of sight, falling like a rock.

The others gasped, and rushed to the edge, to see him falling towards the lake below.

"That's suicidal." Sakura said frankly.

"Only an idiot would do something like that." Ino agreed.

"Way too troublesome." Shikamaru said.

"How are we supposed to beat Akatsuki if we get killed by a lake?" Sasuke asked.

Meanwhile, Kiba was counting aloud. "Thirteen...fourteen."

"This is very illogical." Shino added.

"There's no way we're doing that." Chouji said, his hands on his hips.

"Twenty...twenty-one." Kiba was still counting.

"No way." Hinata agreed, a small smile on her face.

"We have a responsibility to the village." Sakura said.

"We'd be irresponsible if we risked our lives doing something like this." Ino continued.

"Exactly." Sakura agreed.

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty." Kiba said.

They all froze, staring at each other, waiting for someone to make a move. Then, simultaneously, they all broke out into a run, and hurled themselves out into open air.

Kiba whooped, Ino screamed, Hinata giggled, and Sasuke stayed silent, a fierce grin on his face. Shino fell like a stone, his arms and legs strapped to his sides, and there definitely, _definitely _was _not _a grin on his face, under his collar.

Akamaru barked, wagging his tail in mid air.

Hinata giggled like a crazy person the entire way down, the wind tearing at her from below. She fell, weightless, pin wheeling her arms uselessly.

Sasuke fell face first, eyes wide-open, even as the wind tearing at his eyes caused tears to spring up in his eyes, blurring his vision.

Suddenly, a gust of warm air hit them, slowing their descent. But they were still going too fast, and they would hit the lake in a second or two. Then the gust intensified, almost blowing Sasuke back upwards. Suddenly the gust disappeared, and gravity took hold of him again, and two seconds later, he hit the lake, the impact knocking the wind out of him.

He flailed for a moment, getting his bearings, then broke the surface of the water, gasping for breath. He climbed out, to see Naruto standing on the surface of the lake. He was drenched, his hair dripping, and he had a grin still plastered on his face.

"I told you guys to come one at a time!" He said in mock anger.

"As if we were gonna sit in line and wait our turn." Sasuke said, taking off his jacket and wringing it out.

Naruto laughed, turning away.

"It's a good thing you told us to bring a change of clothes, Naruto." Sakura said, picking up her change of clothes from the shore. Ino and Hinata were next to her, and Naruto took a second to wonder why the sight of Hinata, absolutely soaked, her clothes stuck tightly to her skin, made him blush.

Akamaru wagged his tail, sitting on the beach, and barked at them playfully.

"I'm gonna change. There better not be any peaking. _Or else._" Sakura said, her eyes burning. "That goes for little dogs, too."

Akamaru wagged his tail faster.

"Honestly. Women are so scary." Kiba said, picking up his own clothes.

"No kidding." Shikamaru agreed, next to him.

Naruto was surprised to see that Shino had somehow managed to land on the surface on the lake, and other than his ankles, was completely dry.

He turned to see Sasuke grinning at him. "What?"

"Let's do that again."

Naruto grinned. "I'll race you to the top."

There was the sound of a mad dash through the forest, off to their left, and Sakura looked up from where she was changing. "What was that?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Boys. There's no way I'm climbing that mountain again."

xxxx

"As you know, the Sand Daimyo and I have had a disagreement recently. He has been sending more and more of the missions that are rightfully ours to Konoha."

It was rare for the Kazekage to come out from behind his curtain, but their father had done so for this occasion. He was pacing back and forth in front of them, his head bowed and his face obscured by the veil on his Kage Hat.

"I am sending you to Konoha for the Chunin Exams. I expect you to make an impression. Show all the rich merchants in attendance, as well as our own Daimyo, what Suna shinobi are made of, and why we should be receiving the missions instead of that pathetic leaf village."

He stopped his pacing, surveying the three occupants of the room. Temari and Kankuro were kneeling in front of him, their eyes on the floor. Gaara, of course, stood staring at him, his arms crossed and his mouth twitching.

"That means that you need to behave yourselves as well. People don't hire lunatics for missions. I'm speaking to you Gaara."

Gaara said nothing, but held his eyes, forcing the Kazekage to look away.

"Do not fail me."

"Yes, father." Temari said obediently, her gaze still on the floor.

"You may go."

Temari and Kankuro rose, bowed, and exited.

Gaara stood there, staring at him, his mouth still twitching. The Kazekage thought, for a split second, that Gaara was about to attack him. But then Gaara turned, saying nothing, and followed his siblings out the door.

The Kazekage, without realizing it, let out a breath in relief.

xxxx

"Unfortunately, Team Nine is still in rotation, so the next team will be Team Ten." It gave the Hokage an unusual amount of satisfaction to say those words.

He should've thought of naming the new teams by number a long time ago.

xxxx

Sunlight, a rare oddity, was streaming in through the window. Of course, the rain never stopped pattering against the roof, not even when the sunlight shined briefly. They were in a meeting room, at the top of the sky-scraper in the very center of Hidden Rain. Their Leader, Konan, Orochimaru and Sasori were all present, and the rest of the members were projections; somewhat see-through, and shimmering with colors.

"We called this meeting to announce the completion of Phase One. We are now completely in control of the Village Hidden in the Rain."

"Still think we should've used the Hidden Mist instead..." Zabuza muttered.

"Oh, shut up already, Un." Deidara said, exasperated.

Ice senbon crystals formed in Haku's hand. His voice was soft and deadly, "Talk like that to Zabuza-sama again-"

"What are you gonna do? I'm a projection, Un." Deidara interrupted.

Haku opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted.

"Enough." Their leader's calm, deep voice, sliced across the conversation.

Konan continued for him, "Phase One is complete, there is no point arguing further. Orochimaru and Sasori have supplied us with a village so firmly under our control that it might as well be part of Akatsuki. Kakuzu and Zabuza have beheaded Gato, and we have gained control of his vast monetary resources. It is time for Phase Two."

"If I might make a suggestion." Orochimaru's smooth voice cut in. "While it is true that most of the Jinchuuriki stand little to no chance against us, I have sources that say that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki are becoming quite talented ninja."

"They're like 13 years old!" Kisame laughed. "I fail to see the problem."

"Do not underestimate them." Haku said. "A child, if properly driven, can become a sharp tool indeed."

"Just so." Orochimaru purred, looking across at Haku. "While I doubt that the Nine-tails Jinchuuriki will give us much trouble, given what we have planned for them, it won't hurt to follow their progress a little more closely. Especially since we have elected to leave them for last."

"What do you suggest?"

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed. "A test."

His partner, Sasori, spoke up. "We can slip in several of our agents under the guise of "Rain genin" to participate in the upcoming Chunin Exams. We have sources that say that the Hokage is planning on entering the Jinchuuriki in the exams. We even have sources that say that the Kazekage is sending his son, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki to the exams. We can have some fun with him too, while we're at it."

"The Ichibi Jinchuuriki?" Hidan asked. "He's the total nutcase, right?"

"Takes one to know one..." Haku muttered.

"Yes." Konan answered quickly, trying to prevent an argument.

Tobi clasped his hands together. "OOoooohhh. I love tests, don't you Deidara-senpai?"

"Shut the hell up, Tobi, or I'll kill you, Un."

The Leader's eyes lingered on Tobi for a moment. Then he turned back to Orochimaru and Sasori. "Very well. Conduct your test, and observe the results. But under no circumstances are you to take a personal role. We cannot reveal our hand to Konoha just yet."

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed, and Sasori might've grunted.

"The rest of you have Bijuu to fetch."

xxxx

"Chunin Exams?"

"Yes, we believe it's time." The Hokage said. Standing to the side were Asuma and Kushina. In front of them, all of Team Nine stood in front of the Hokage's desk.

"This will be the largest Chunin Exam in over a decade." Kushina said.

"It's a good time to remind the world how talented Konoha's shinobi can be." The Hokage's eyes gleamed, his small grin dangerous.

"And, it's a relatively safe way to pit you against some of the most talented shinobi of your generation." Asuma added, shooting a look at his father.

The Hokage coughed. "Um, yes. That's what I meant."

Chouji grinned, shooting a look at Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes with a small grin on his face.

Naruto grinned. "Sounds like fun."

xxxx

The room was cold, too cold. She suppressed a shiver. An aquarium was set in the wall, filled with a green liquid that bubbled constantly. That soft, green light was the only light in the small, damp, cold room.

Jirobo stood beside her, his hulk visible out of the corner of her eye. Sakon was further down, and Kidomaru was on the other side of him.

Tayuya kept her gaze focused on the floor, Orochimaru's long, silky black hair falling to the very top of her vision.

"Find the red-headed shinobi from Sand. He is the Kazekage's son, and a Jinchuuriki." Orochimaru stroked Tayuya's cheek. "Find Gaara of the Desert...then kill him." His voice was soft, deadly. Tayuya forced herself to stay still. Showing any reaction at all could be a deadly mistake.

"Wait." Sakon said, "Doesn't Akatsuki need the Jinchuuriki alive?"

There was a streak of movement, and Tayuya felt a gentle wind against her face. The next second, Sakon was pinned to the wall, Orochimaru directly in front of him.

Orochimaru pulled back his arm, and Tayuya saw that it was covered in gore. When he moved, Sakon was still pinned against the wall, his eyes glazed over, a huge crater in his chest. Slowly, he slumped to the floor and capsized sideways, leaving a bloody smear on the wall.

Tayuya felt bile rise in her throat, and she looked away. It wasn't that she had liked Sakon or Ukon. She'd despised them. But the pure brutality of the murder was enough to make even her feel nauseous.

"Any more questions?" Orochimaru purred, eyes glinting, kneeling down to wipe his arm on Sakon's pants.

Tayuya swallowed her disgust and fear. "No, sir. Gaara will die during the Chunin exams."

"See that he does." Orochimaru said softly, sweeping out of the room. "Your promotion might just become permanent."

Tayuya looked down. Her hands were shaking.

xxxx

"Konohamaru!" Sakura shouted. "Get back here you little turd!" Inner Sakura was laughing her ass off. Did Konohamaru really think she was that mad? If she had wanted to catch him, she could've done it in the blink of an eye.

But it was fun to chase him across the village and watch him glance over his shoulder, completely terrified.

Up until, glancing back over his shoulder, he plowed into a strange ninja. The ninja, dressed from head to toe in black robes, wearing make-up and a stupid-looking hat, picked Konohamaru up by his shirt.

"I hate little brats like this." The ninja said. "Watch where you're going, stupid."

The older blonde girl next to him shook her head.

"Hey, let him go!" Sakura shouted.

The ninja turned to look at her. "And now an annoying little girl, too. Perfect."

Sakura balled her fists. Who did he think he was talking to?

"Let. Him. Go." She ground out between clenched teeth, barely keeping her temper in check.

"I'll deal with you in a minute." The ninja told her. "After I teach this little maggot a lesson."

Sakura smelled a new scent on the wind, right before Kankuro swung his fist at Konohamaru. There was a small whistle, and a decent-sized stone cracked across Kankuro's wrist mid-swing.

"Shit!" Kankuro exclaimed, dropping Konohamaru and clutching his wrist in pain, turning to look at where the stone came from.

Sasuke was throwing a rock up and down, catching it in his palm, reclining against a nearby tree thirty feet in the air. He leveled his gaze down at Kankuro, a small frown on his face, as if Kankuro were an annoying ant crawling across the table. "Get lost."

His voice was even, almost bored. As if Kankuro wasn't even worth getting upset over.

"Another little punk!" Kankuro snarled. "I hate brats like you." He said, putting his bundle on the ground, flinging off the wrapping to reveal a wooden puppet.

Suddenly, Sasuke caught a scent on the wind.

"You're going to use _that_?" Temari asked, shocked.

"Enough, Kankuro." The deep, quiet voice came from behind Sasuke, who turned. A red-headed teen was standing upside down on a nearby branch.

"You're an embarrassment to our village."

"Uh...hi, Gaara." Kankuro chuckled, scratching the back of his head."These brats-"

"I don't care." Gaara interrupted. "We're supposed to behave, remember?" He said, his tone dark and amused.

"Y-yes, Gaara."

Gaara turned to look at Sasuke. _He hit Kankuro in the wrist with that stone mid-swing. That's pretty good. _

He disappeared, appearing back on the ground in a whirl of sand.

Sasuke jumped out of the tree, landing next to Sakura, who had Konohamaru hiding behind her.

"Let me guess. You're here for the Chunin Exams, right?" Sasuke asked. "What's your name?"

"Gaara of the Desert." The red-head replied, his eyes fixed on Sasuke. "What's yours."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"I'll see you in the exam." Gaara said, turning and walking away, his siblings following him.

"Yeah." Sasuke turned, and walked away, Sakura beside him.

"I didn't need your protection, you know." She told him, her hands on her hips.

Sasuke turned and grinned, startling her. "I know. But that Kankuro guy sure did."

Meanwhile, two boys balanced precariously at the very top of the same tree. Even with their keen hearing, they had barely been able to make out the whole conversation.

"Is it just me, or did that red-head smell like-" Naruto started to ask.

"Raccoon?" Kiba asked. "Definitely."

"Hmmm." Naruto hummed thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on the retreating shinobi's back.

xxxx

It was the start of the Chunin Exams. Team Nine pushed their way through the mass of Shinobi crowding the doors, and started up a back staircase. Climbing the stairs seemed to take an unusually long time. The next landing they got to had a 3 next to the door.

"This is the third floor? Where was the second?" Naruto laughed. He opened the door, revealing a 301 over the first door.

"Something smells fishy here." Kiba said.

The rest turned to look at him. "Figuratively speaking, I mean." He said. "I don't actually smell fish..."

"Oh, shut up." Ino rolled her eyes. Akamaru wagged his tail.

"Come on." Naruto interrupted, before they could start bickering. "Let's go look at the next floor."

"Yeah." Sakura agreed. "We can just come back down again, we have plenty of time."

The next landing said 4. Naruto frowned.

"Well, maybe that was the third floor." Sakura said doubtfully.

"Then where's the second floor? That doesn't make sense." Sasuke said.

Naruto opened the door, and looked inside. He grinned, and waved them after him. Entering, the first door on the left had a gold 301 next to the door.

"It was all a genjutsu." Naruto said.

Shikamaru smirked. "Looks like they're testing us before the Exam even starts."

xxxx

Asuma and Kurenai were leaning against the side of the hall.

"Hey." Asuma said. "Glad to see you all made it."

"I hope you guys didn't shatter my illusion." Kurenai said, eying them.

"Nope." Naruto grinned. "We decided it was way too nice, and we should leave it for someone else to enjoy!"

Kurenai grinned back.

"That was your illusion, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah. The proctors asked me to put it up."

"Well, anyway." Asuma said, straightening up. "I'm glad none of you chickened out, cause if one of you didn't show..." He busted out laughing. "Sorry, I can't even keep a straight face. You guys are gonna rock this thing."

Kurenai eyed him with a small smile on her face. "We're here to give you your teams. Obviously, it would be unfair if we kept you in a team of nine. So, Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto will be in one team. Chouji, Ino, and Shikamaru will be the next one, and Sakura, Kiba, and Shino will be the last team."

"You should know, though, there's no rule against different teams forming alliances inside the exam." Asuma said, and gave them a wink.

Kurenai punched him in the shoulder. "Don't give them any hints!" She exclaimed, red eyes flashing.

"Ow." Asuma said, rubbing his shoulder. "Crazy woman."

"Well, anyway." Kurenai said, turning and smiling. "Good luck. Not that you'll need it."

xxxx

"Wow that's a lot of people." Naruto said, the rest of the team behind him, just inside the doorway.

"No kidding." Ino agreed.

The room was filled with genin from, what looked like, all over the continent. And all of them looked like older teens, if not adults already.

"And they still haven't become Chunin yet?" Kiba laughed. "What a bunch of scrubs."

Immediately, the first row of genin turned to glare at him, their killing intent a feeble, weak thing compared to what Wolf, Kushina and Kakashi combined could produce.

"I'd be careful if I were you."

They turned around to see an older teenager with grey hair and glasses standing nearby. "Some of these guys are real veterans, on their second or third Chunin Exams. And right now, tensions are pretty high. You don't want to make a bunch of enemies right from the start. Especially as rookies."

"Thanks for the advice." Naruto said warily. "Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Kabuto." The teen said, holding out his hand.

"Naruto." Naruto responded, shaking his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"How many times have you taken the Exam, Kabuto-san?" Sakura asked.

"This'll be my sixth time." Kabuto said, pushing up his glasses, causing them to flash in the light.

"Wow, so you must be really prepared this time!" Sakura said.

"More like, you must really suck." Kiba laughed, causing Sakura to step on his foot.

Kabuto, rather than getting mad, just smiled patiently. "Well, the Chunin Exams aren't completely based on skill, you know. Part of it is luck; and I've gotten pretty unlucky recently."

"Uh-huh." Shikamaru said, eying him.

"Well anyway, I'd be willing to help you guys out a little, as a veteran from the same village. Check out these cards, I keep all the information I've gathered about the exams on these cards. Including the people here."

He took out a blank card, which glowed to life, showing a neat script below a small pie graph. "For example, this card shows the amount of ninja from each village present. Mostly leaf ninja, of course. But it looks like there are at least a few genin from every village, except Iwa obviously."

"Do you have anything on Gaara of the Desert?" Sasuke asked.

"Let's see. Ooh, B-ranks already." He remarked, showing Sasuke the card. "That's impressive, for a genin. Ah, he's the Kazekage's son, so that explains that."

"Hn." Sasuke said, studying the card intently.

"Well, thanks for your help." Naruto said, clearly dismissing the older genin.

"Anytime." Kabuto said, smiling. He waved, "Good luck in the exams." Then he disappeared into the crowd.

"I don't trust him." Kiba said immediately. "He stinks...like disinfectant. I hate that smell."

"No kidding." Sakura said, wrinkling her nose.

"His story doesn't make any sense." Shikamaru said.

"He was totally lying when he said that he'd been getting unlucky, by the way." Ino said.

"Most genin don't actually get promoted in these exams, anyway." Shikamaru said. "They get promoted personally by their Kage. He has to know that; so why take the Exam so many times? Because it _fascinates _him?" He asked, sarcastically. "So he can collect cards?"

"He has a weak handshake." Naruto said, scowling. "I can't trust a guy who hands me a dead fish for a handshake."

Hinata smiled. "We'll be seeing him again."

Naruto studied her, forcing her to look away. "Yeah." He said softly.

xxxx

**A ninja stands under a large oak tree, hiding in its shadow. The tree is thirty feet tall, and the ninja is six feet tall. However, a large wasp's nest is settled in the tree. If the solar angle is 60 degrees, how far away from the trunk of the tree can the ninja stand while keeping himself in the tree's shadow?**

A little picture was drawn to the side.

Sakura smirked. Algebra? Trig? This was like, so last year.

Iruka would be furious that something so elementary was on the Chunin Exam.

xxxx

"But first you need to decide if you even want to take the tenth question." Ibiki said. "You see, if you get it wrong, no one on your team will ever be able to take the Chunin Exams again."

"What!" A blonde girl in the second row asked. "I've never heard of a rule like that before."

"You're just unlucky. You got **me **as your proctor." Ibiki smirked.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hinata saw Naruto put up his feet on the desk. He put his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes.

xxxx

The window blew open and a long banner was pinned against the wall.

"I'm your second proctor, Mitarashi Anko!" The woman stopped in shock, staring. "What the hell? There are this many left, Ibiki? You must be losing your touch!"

"There was a huge crowd this year." Ibiki said defensively. "A promising one, too."

"Hmph. Time to break it at least in half!" Anko said. "Follow me, my little maggots!"

xxxx

"I hope this test is a little better." Shikamaru mumbled.

Their proctor for the second exam was doing some sort of intimidation routine, trying to scare the crap out of all the assembled genin. Naruto yawned.

"That was _so_ boring." Kiba whined. Akamaru covered his eyes with his paws in agreement.

"Serious waste of time." Naruto agreed, his voice carrying in the sudden quiet as the proctor paused.

In the blink of an eye, the proctor had drawn a kunai and sent it flying towards Naruto's cheek.

She was about to appear behind him, and lick the blood, like she usually did to terrify genin, but stopped in shock.

Naruto twirled the kunai around his finger. "Do you make a habit of randomly throwing kunai at people?" He asked lazily, doing his best Shikamaru impression.

Anko smirked. "Only at people who annoy me."

_I like this one already. _She thought with glee.

xxxx

Hinata followed behind Naruto and Sasuke, who were in turn following their Chunin proctor to the gate where they could enter the forest.

She couldn't wait till they met up with the others. Being alone with these two was nerve-wracking.

She never really did understand Sasuke. He was so intense all the time. And he had random mood swings that she could never predict; which made her very uncomfortable being alone with him.

Naruto, on the other hand, was extremely calming. Just being around him was relaxing, because he exuded an air of confidence and control.

Unfortunately, that didn't really help, because he was also the hottest thing since Fire Jutsu. She could barely even talk to him, because as soon as his eyes met hers her brain short-circuited.

"Good luck." The Chunin said, opening the gate, and stepping aside. He seemed surprised when they didn't immediately dash off, Naruto and Sasuke turning to face her, forming a triangle between them.

"So, what's first?" Sasuke asked.

"I think we should find Kiba first." Hinata said.

"Why?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I..." Hinata found herself meeting startling blue eyes, and any train of thought she might have had grinded to a halt. "I, um, forgot."

Naruto laughed softly, and Sasuke sniffed the air.

"I think I've got Kiba's scent." He said.

Naruto sniffed too. "Yeah, his group's close. And he's got the best nose, so he can help us find the other three, wherever they are. Good plan, Hinata."

Hinata was blushing the entire way to Kiba's group, who ended up meeting them halfway.

xxxx

"So." Naruto said, once they had all grouped together. "Shikamaru, you got a plan?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Shikamaru grinned.

xxxx

By the time the young woman realized she was there, Ino had already planted one of her feet firmly in the woman's throat. At high speed.

The woman dropped to her knees, eyes wide and throat muscles constricted with spasms as she struggled for air.

The young man flinched in surprise, but right before he moved he felt a great pull, and his arms were almost ripped out of their sockets as he was yanked backwards. He flew backwards, his head cracking against a tree. Dazed, he shook his head, and found himself completely ensnared in tiny, almost invisible, chakra wires.

The wires traveled from his body to the fingers of a young girl with pink hair, who smirked at him, holding up her clenched fist, causing him to gasp when the wires tightened painfully.

A blonde teenager slinked out of the trees, six others following soon after from different directions, surrounding them.

Dosu spat in disgust. "_You."_

The blonde held out his hand. "Your scroll. Toss it here, and we'll let you walk away."

Dosu glanced again at Kin, who Ino was holding up by her hair. Then at Zaku, hopelessly entangled, his hands pointing the wrong way to be of any use. He spat again.

"Very well. But you'll be seeing us again, brat, in the third round. And ninja spars are dangerous things...it's not uncommon for _accidents_ to happen. You might end up wishing you'd killed me right here."

"I might." Naruto agreed amiably, catching the thrown scroll. His eyes, however, were stone cold, showing none of the agreement his words implied.

_Fifteen Minutes Later_

"I can't believe how easy that was." Sakura said.

"No wonder the Hokage didn't want us to become genin as soon as we met the Academy's standards. These guys are terrible." Ino agreed.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino each held two scrolls in their hands.

"Okay, so now to find the tower." Naruto said. "Smell anything yet, Kiba?"

Akamaru barked.

"Well...it's pretty easy to get turned around in here...but I'm pretty sure we came in from that way, where the second proctor is hanging out." He said, pointing over his shoulders. "Which would make the tower that way." He said, pointing forwards. "And while I can't smell any old stone, or anything like that...I can smell one thing." He grinned. "Pipe tobacco. Which means..."

Naruto grinned. "Hokage-sama."

xxxx

Tayuya halted her team behind the bushes. She gritted her teeth as Jirobo rustled to a halt; the fatty was loud enough to alert half the forest to their presence.

In the clearing in front of them, their target and his team were confronting some actual rain genin. One of them was showing the Jinchuuriki his pretty tricks with his umbrella. Tayuya snorted softly.

Beside her, Jirobo shifted. "He's distracted. What are we waiting for?" He asked softly.

Tayuya clenched her teeth. "Sakon got killed because he was too fucking reckless. I won't make the same mistake...there's something fucked up with this mission." She whispered. "I'm in charge now; we're not leaving anything up to chance."

So they waited, and watched. Even Tayuya became impressed eventually, by the sheer amount of senbon the umbrellas guided towards the Sand Jinchuuriki. Gaara, however, was clearly not impressed. He stood there, his arms crossed, a muscle jumping in his jaw. After the rain of senbon finally stopped, his hands shot out, and they witnessed the brutal murder of the three rain genin, as the Sand Jinchuuriki soaked his sand with their blood.

The three sand genin left the clearing.

Jirobo shifted again. "Come on, let's get them! They're right there; no one will complain if we kill a lunatic like that. Kidomaru can kill him before he even knows we're there."

"They're right there." Tayuya mimicked. "You go ahead, then." She said, gesturing after the Sand team.

Jirobo clenched his jaw, but made no move.

"Weren't you watching, fatso? Physical attacks don't do shit to that guy." Tayuya said.

"What do we do, then?" Kidomaru asked.

"Fuck if I know. Get a scroll. After that..." She paused, then shrugged. "I'm working on it."

xxxx

Asuma opened the door, and crashed into a wall of noise.

The break room was, for lack of a better word, chaos. Only a few chunin at a time were required to monitor the cameras around the forest, so the rest of the chunin proctors were hanging out in the large break room, reclining on green couches and wooden chairs.

As he entered, the Chunin were laughing and talking excitedly, and he glimpsed money changing hands several times.

"Asuma-sensei!" One of the Chunin yelled. Asuma recognized him as a genin from his last team. They had passed the Chunin Exam, and then, for various reasons, the team had fallen apart and they had been separated.

All the Chunin turned to look at him expectantly.

"Is it true? All nine rookies finished in-?"

"56 minutes." Asuma confirmed.

Whoops and cheers filled the room, along with groans and laughs. Money changed hands a few more times.

"That's gotta be the fastest time in years, if not ever, right?"

"In all of the history of the Chunin exams, only one genin team has gotten through Training Ground #42 faster." Asuma confirmed, pausing for dramatic effect. "And that was-"

"The Sannin." The dark, quiet voice, came from a door on the right. They all turned to look, and saw the Hokage standing in the doorway, his pipe in his hand.

But his eyes were not celebrating; they were dark and foreboding.

xxxx

Orochimaru sat, his back straight in his wooden chair, gazing at the sweating council member opposite him to his left, around the circular table.

Transformed, under the guise of Orobi, he had kept his silky-black hair, currently held back in a loose ponytail. But his skin was tan, and his eyes brown, with a normal, circular pupil. His jaw was heavier, his eyebrows thicker. The black robes he was wearing had a deep cowl, which he kept down, a welcome weight on his back. The deep folds in the hood hid the summoning scroll placed inside.

Around to his right, Sasori sat patiently, lounging in his chair under the guise of Santabi. He was wearing long, flowing black robes, identical to Orochimaru's own. A shock of spiky red hair protruded from the shadows of his hood, and his green eyes gleamed from its depths. One lightly tanned arm rested over the back of his chair, his posture completely relaxed.

Ame had only one council. They were both the village council, and the leader's advisors. Originally, they had all belonged to Hanzo, and for that, they were being slowly replaced.

Hanzo had been so paranoid, he had left most of the duties that involved running the village in his council's hands. Including public ceremonies, to the point where he had slowly dissolved to just being the commander of their armed forces.

Hanzo had foolishly believed that staying alive and being in charge of the military were the only important things to a leader of a ninja village.

Orochimaru snorted just thinking about it. Across from him to his right, Batten, the craftsmen's representative, looked up. He was a single-minded man, who possessed a fierce determination, and, unfortunately, almost always sided with Cherret. He would make a good ally, and would be easily manipulated. It was a pity that he too had to die.

"I could use some amusement, Orobi." The large blacksmith said, his deep voice booming, as ever. He was a large, thick man, with a flowing black beard. He wore a sleeveless leather vest and brown breeches, which showed off his heavily muscled arms and thick, tree-trunk legs.

"I was just thinking that we are wasting our time." Orochimaru purred. "James is clearly not going to show. I imagine he's busy today."

James was one of Akatsuki's agents, a man who had risen quickly in the ranks, now commander of the ninja forces, his command second only to the leader's in a time of war.

"Why's that?" Cherret asked sharply. He was a little man, short and thin, with beady, sharp eyes and a sweaty face with short, greasy hair. He was also the Master of Ceremonies, the man technically in charge of the Council. His vote was worth 1.5 votes when only four members were present, but only one when all five were present.

Cherret was an ex-ninja, he had previously been a talentless genin or chunin, or something inconsequential. He was a sharp, suspicious man, and the last remaining _real _threat on the council. He had always been suspicious of Orochimaru's quick rise to council member. He didn't buy that the reason Orobi made such a good treasurer was that no one dared to try and cheat him.

"Best let our Black Ops commander explain." Said Orochimaru, nodding to Sasori.

Sasori dipped his black cowl. "Our rain genin have been, well, surprisingly successful." His calm manner and light voice were hilarious, to Orochimaru. Who knew Sasori was such an actor? In the Ame Black Ops, it was said that Santabi never lost that calm. He had run 13 different Kumo ninja through with his sword, one after the other, and afterwards, had calmly remarked to an officer about the nice weather.

"The Hokage has courteously sent an invitation to the leader of our village to attend the final round of the Chunin Exams." Santabi explained.

"And Our Leader cannot attend?" Cherret asked suspiciously.

"Can't, or just doesn't want to." Orochimaru answered.

The eyes of the other three slid to his, and Orochimaru cursed inwardly at the slip.

"Why would a Treasurer know what Our Leader wants?" Cherret inquired.

Orochimaru crushed the impulse to kill the little weasel right then and there. If he did, he'd have to kill Batten too, and they still needed him.

"It was merely an innocent suggestion." Orochimaru purred. Cherret had always been abnormally suspicious of him. He supposed his quick rise to council member deserved it.

"Regardless, the Treasurer is correct." Santabi said, his eyebrows raised just slightly. "Our Leader has informed me that he is unable to attend, and he wants one of you to take his place."

"One of us?" Cherret asked immediately, suspicious as always.

"As commander of black-ops that also makes me Master of Information." Santabi said lightly.

"Master of Spies, you mean." Batten said.

Santabi inclined his head slightly. "If you prefer. I will be going regardless; and sitting next to the Hokage hardly seems the best place to gather all the information I want."

Cherret studied him for a moment longer, then moved his gaze. "I suppose that's true. As Master of Ceremonies, I'll go, then."

"Actually, if you don't mind, I would prefer to go." Orochimaru said.

Cherret looked sharply at him. "What would a farm boy from the fields of Ame want with Konoha?"

"Perhaps he's merely worried that if you go, all your sweating will make the Hokage think you're up to something." Sasori said slyly.

Batten's laugh boomed out, filling the room. "He's got you there, Cherret."

Cherret scowled, shooting a glance at the hooded figure. "The question remains."

"Actually, I am a little worried for your safety." Orochimaru said sweetly. "You can always find another treasurer, but Konoha, and the road to it, are dangerous places. And we only have one Master of Ceremonies. I wouldn't know where to start; and I don't think Santabi or Batten would make good public speakers."

Batten's laughter boomed forth again. "You got that right, Treasurer." He said loudly. Orochimaru wondered if he'd already had a few drinks.

"I will remind you that I am a former ninja myself." Cherret said. "I'm much more able to protect myself than you are."

"Oh, of that I have no doubt." Orochimaru assured him. "But still...if you will not think of your own safety, think of your family. Who will protect them when you're gone?" He asked sweetly.

Cherret's eyes flashed. He leveled what he doubtless thought was an intimidating glare at Orochimaru. He let it hold for a few more seconds, then spoke.

"Let's vote." He said, through gritted teeth.

"I vote for the Treasurer." Santabi said calmly.

"I believe my vote is clear." Orochimaru said innocently.

Batten glanced pleadingly at Cherret, who was still glaring at Orochimaru. The smith frowned. "I vote Orobi, as well."

A muscle in Cherret's jaw jumped, but he did not look at the Smith. "Very well. Are there any more items on our agenda?"

Sasori and Batten both shrugged, and Orochimaru said "Not to my knowledge."

"Adjourned. Best of luck to you, Santabi."

The smith stood and frowned after the exiting man. Then he turned. "Good luck to you as well, Orobi. Good day to you both."

The smith exited the room, his heavy footfalls echoing around the chamber till he exited.

Orochimaru frowned after the retreating smith. "I never thought I'd say this about a civilian, but I actually like that man."

"If we end up having to kill him, I'll do it painlessly, in his sleep." Sasori promised, his voice seeping into its natural growl. "The weasel is a different story."

"Oh, yes." Orochimaru grinned. "The weasel's mine."

**xxxx**

**A/N**

God, it's good to be home. Sorry, I was gone on vacation, without access to a computer. And I forgot to tell you I was going. FORGIVE ME

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, there were several parts that were fun to write, hope you enjoyed them as much as me!

Tell me what you thought!


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